Don’t let the bed bugs bite
“Hospital beds are important, but people should know what is hidden under the mattress,” Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, warns. Now patients will be able to see just how well their hospital performs in controlling serious staph blood infections, as last week saw the release of hospital infection rates on the MyHospitals website.
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“Hospital beds are important, but people should know what is hidden under the mattress,” Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, warns. Now patients will be able to see just how well their hospital performs in controlling serious staph blood infections, as last week saw the release of hospital infection rates on the MyHospitals website.
Staph blood infections are serious bloodstream infections often associated with surgical and other invasive medical procedures.
Described as a first in Australia, Ms Roxon says patients have a basic right to know about the performance of their public hospitals.
“The publication of infection rates caused by these potentially deadly bacteria will drive improved hospital performance,” she claims.
According to Ms Roxon, the website gives Australians the numbers and rates of infections for more than 450 public hospitals and represents more than 87% of patient bed days.
Delivering greater transparency and accountability in the health system, Ms Roxon claims though incidence of infection is collected by all states and territories, it has not always been publicly reported at a hospital level.
