QUEENSLAND hospitals have some of the highest rates of the killer golden staph infection in the country.
Four hospitals in the state have been named as poor performers, with Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital ranking the worst.
But the state also boasts the best-performing hospital in the country – The Prince Charles – which had an infection rate two and a half times lower than the national average.
Nationwide more than 1700 public hospital patients contracted golden staph infections, which killed up to 35 per cent of their victims in 2012-13.
Many strains of the infection are resistant to most antibiotics, and its containment is considered a key measure of a hospital’s infection control procedures and its quality and safety for patients.
National Health Performance Authority has revealed the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital recorded 65 cases of the infection in 2012-13 – a rate of 1.93 per 10,000 patient bed days.
It topped the list of worst-performing major hospitals with more “vulnerable patients” – those hospitals with patients more at risk of contracting the infection.
The Mater Adult Hospital, which had 10 infections, the former Gold Coast Hospital, which had 26 infections, and Rockhampton Hospital, which had 12 infections, were also among the worst-performing 11 major hospitals.
“It is important to remember that every case of healthcare-associated (golden staph) bloodstream infection is potentially preventable,” NHPA chief Dr Diane Watson said.
The release of the data, which names and shames poor-performing hospitals, allowed them to compare themselves to better-performing hospitals and to see how they improved over time, she said.
Professor John Turnidge, who leads the program for national surveillance of antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic usage, said Australia’s over use of antibiotics was a factor in many staph infections becoming resistant to most treatments.
He said a national campaign on hand hygiene had improved rates of infection.
Source: Courier Mail