For two years running, the ACT has exceeded the national benchmark for golden staph infection in public hospitals, the only jurisdiction in Australia to do so.

The Canberra Liberals say this reflects poorly on the ACT Government, but health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith says she takes the matter seriously, and has set up a process to investigate the data and address the issue.

There were 45 cases of golden staph at Canberra public hospitals in both 2022-23 and 2021–22 – a 40 per cent increase from the 32 cases in 2019–20, shadow health minister Leanne Castley remarked.

Both years’ figures exceeded the national benchmark.

Ms Stephen-Smith provided the provisional figures for 2022–23 in response to a question on notice from Budget Estimates, while the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) published the 2021–22 data in July.

The 45 cases in 2022–23 include 31 cases at the Canberra Hospital, 13 at the former Calvary Public Hospital, and one case at the University of Canberra Hospital.

In 2021–22, there were 35 cases at Canberra Hospital, nine at the former Calvary Public Hospital, and one at the University of Canberra Hospital. Both Canberra Hospital and the former Calvary recorded rates above the national rate and their peer hospitals’ average.

Between 2019–20 and 2021–22, 16 patients with a golden staph infection died within 30 days of their healthcare, according to all-cause mortality figures Ms Stephen-Smith provided.

“The ACT was the only jurisdiction in Australia which exceeded the nation benchmark for golden staph infections – a poor reflection on the Labor-Greens Government,” Ms Castley said.

“I call on the Minister to explain why the ACT remains the worst jurisdiction for golden staph infection and tell Canberrans what she is doing to fix the problem.”

Working group will investigate

Ms Stephen-Smith stated that at her instigation, Canberra Health Services has established a working group, which first met on 2 August.

The working group will gather data, seek to understand what is driving the data and the outcome, and work through a plan on how to address those issues. It will put systemic responses in place to support staff to bring down the rates of infection and meet national benchmarks, the health minister said.

The process includes the entire public hospital system (Canberra Hospital, North Canberra Hospital, and the University of Canberra Hospital).

“As soon as it became clear that this increase above the national benchmark was not a one-off blip … that this looked like a sustained increase over the last couple of years … [and] this was actually something we really needed to pay attention to over a period of time … I met with Canberra Health Services and said: ‘What are we going to do about this? What are you doing?’” Ms Stephen-Smith said.

“This is something that I take very seriously. These national quality and safety benchmarks exist for a reason. We are very focused on them. … We really got stuck into bringing people together to understand the data, and to respond to that data in a meaningful way.”

Hand hygiene

Ms Castley also remarked that 29 per cent of Canberra Health Services staff had not yet completed their mandatory annual hand hygiene training.

“We know CHS staff are overworked and under a lot of pressure,” Ms Castley said. “It is essential that they be given the time to do this training.”

“Yes, that is a concern, and that will be part of this consideration,” Ms Stephen-Smith said. “We really need to look at what are the data telling us about where these instances of infection come from, what is feeding into that.”

The health minister observed that both Canberra Hospital and the former Calvary Public Hospital met their benchmarks for hand hygiene in more than 80 per cent of instances.

“But we need to look at all of the information across the board that will tell us where maybe we are falling down on that infection prevention and control, and make sure that we’re getting onto that as quickly as possible. And that’s what I’ve very specifically asked Canberra Health Services to do, and that’s what they’re doing.”