The ACT was the only jurisdiction in Australia where rates of golden staph (Staphylococcus aureus) in public hospitals exceeded the national benchmark in 2021–22, according to Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data published last week, while both Canberra Hospital and the former Calvary Public Hospital recorded rates above the national rate and their peer hospitals’ average.
The Canberra Liberals claim this reflects poorly on the standard of care and hygiene in public hospitals.
But Canberra Health Services said that it reported and managed all golden staph infections in line with best practice national guidelines, and that comparing the ACT to other jurisdictions was not advisable, because of different reporting parameters.
Findings
Staphylococcus aureus, the AIHW states, is a normally harmless bacterium found inside the nose and on the skin; but if it enters the bloodstream, it can cause a life-threatening infection.
There are two types of Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection (SABSI): methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), which can be treated with commonly used antibiotics, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), against which many antibiotics are useless, and which is linked to unfavourable patient results.
The ACT recorded 1.08 cases of golden staph per 10,000 patient days – above the national benchmark of 1 case per 10,000 patient days. Of these, most (1.01) were MSSA (42 cases); only 0.7 were MRSA (3 cases).
Calvary Public Hospital recorded its highest rate of golden staph in the last decade (rate of 0.99; 9 cases, 8 MSSA, 1 MRSA). Canberra Hospital recorded its second highest rate since 2013–14 (rate of 1.26; 35 cases, 33 MSSA, 2 MRSA). While the University of Canberra Hospital recorded its second highest rate since the hospital opened in 2018 (rate of 0.23: 1 case of MSSA), this was a third of the previous year’s rate (0.79: 3 cases).
Canberra Liberals: “Another nation-lagging low”
Canberra Liberals MLA Leanne Castley, Shadow Minister for Health, said the results were an indictment of the Labor-Greens government.
“This is another nation-lagging low for Canberra’s public health system under the Barr-Rattenbury government,” Ms Castley said.
“While the [Health] Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith busies herself with stunt photo ops and thought bubbles, the public hospital system is declining around her.
“This is serious. Golden staph can prolong a patient’s hospital stay, and carries a high risk of death.”
She remarked that the recent Budget papers contained no outcome for the incidence of golden staph infections at Canberra hospitals for 2022-23 because of the ongoing fiasco with the Digital Health Record reporting. (Read more.)
“It’s incomprehensible these figures couldn’t be provided, even manually,” Ms Castley said. “This Labor-Greens Government needs to stop spending on the Tram extension, and put resources into quality of care and hygiene at our main public hospitals.”
Canberra Health Services: Comparing ACT to other jurisdictions “is not advised”
Canberra Health Services, a spokesperson said, reported and managed all Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections in its facilities in line with best practice national guidelines, including following all procedures and standards on infection prevention and control, hand hygiene, insertion and management of cannulas and midline catheters, aseptic technique, and central venous access device management.
“At Canberra Health Services, the safety and wellbeing of our team members and consumers is of the highest priority, and we work hard to deliver a high standard of quality care.”
The spokesperson suggested that the ACT was not directly comparable to other jurisdictions, because it used different reporting parameters.
“ACTHD [ACT Health Directorate] receive the SABSI data from the health services and provide it to AIHW. It needs to be noted that differences in rates between jurisdictions may be a result of the application of different surveillance/data collection and counting methodologies. As such, comparing jurisdictions is not advised.”
For instance, the ACT territory-wide data includes non-in-patient HAIs (infections associated with healthcare that was received as a non-inpatient, e.g., in emergency departments, outpatient clinics, and community health services). Other jurisdictions may not include these.
