Beds closed at St Luke's yesterday as patient with superbug identified

St Luke's Hospital was forced to close a number of beds in its day ward yesterday, when a patient was discovered to have a superbug.

A patient with Carpbepenemase Producing Enterobacterales (CPE) was identified, resulting in the short-term closure of beds in the day ward. Full infection prevention and control precautions were put in place, in line with the national guidelines, and full decontamination of the day ward took place last night. A statement from the Ireland East Hospital Group said the beds were reopened for emergency admissions today.

"St Luke’s General Hospital Carlow/Kilkenny has fully implemented the National HCAI AMR Taskforce recommendations for screening to detect patients with CPE," said the statement.

"This patient was identified due to implementation of the screening programme. The infection prevention and control team continue to work with staff to ensure best practice is followed in line with Hospital Infection Control Policy and national best practice guidelines for management of CPE."

Meanwhile, two patients with MRSA were recently identified in the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU). The patients were promptly identified, and appropriate action taken. The unit is open for new admissions.

"The Infection Prevention and Control Team has an ongoing surveillance programme for identifying patients colonised or infected with resistant micro-organisms," said the IEHG.

"The surveillance programme was successful in identifying the patients, above, allowing for prompt action by the infection control team and ward staff in line with Hospital Infection Control Policy and national and international best practice guidelines in this area. Incidents and trends in infections are monitored and discussed on a monthly basis at the Hospital’s Quality and Patient Safety Committee and at IEHG Group level."