Press Releases

HFE urges action on Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAIs) in an event at the European Parliament

17 October 2007

HFE urges action on Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAIs) in an event the European Parliament – 17 October

On 17 October 2007, HFE held an event in the European Parliament, Brussels on the issue of HCAIs to call for EU level action on this pressing issue. According to the Commission there are approximately three million HCAIs and 50,000 attributable deaths in the European Union each year. HFE believing this to be a health crisis requiring pan-European leadership and co-ordination from the European Commission in co-operation with the Member States, aims to push this item up higher up the EU agenda. According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s (ECDC) First European Communicable Disease Epidemiological Report identifies there is much that can be done to tackle HCAIs, indeed up to 30% of HCAIs are preventable.

At a lunch hosted by MEPs Avril Doyle (Ireland, EPP-ED) and Liz Lynne (UK, ALDE), decision-makers met with nurses, doctors, patients and industry to both investigate the extent of the problem in all 27 Member States and to proffer solutions as to how it could be best addressed. Liz Lynne’s introductory comments focused on the gravity of the situation, stating as an example that in the UK 90 patients had recently died of the HCAI - C.Dif - a bacteria that causes diarrhea and more serious intestinal conditions such as colitis. C. Dif. has now overtaken MRSA as the main cause of hospital-acquired infections in the UK.

In their speeches, Professor Rossolini from the University of Siena (Italy) highlighted that tackling HCAIs was a complex and multifaceted task, while Paul De Raeve from the European Federation of Nurses Associations noted the importance of continuous professional development of healthcare staff as an important factor tackling HCAIs. During the course of the lunch a lively debate was chaired by former MEP and HFE Honorary President, Mary Banotti. Themes debated included the cleanliness of hospitals and the supervision of healthcare staff by ‘matrons’, hand washing, the reuse / reprocessing of medical devices and sterilisation, and effective prescription of antibiotics by doctors.

Avril Doyle in her concluding remarks noted that while the European Commission, Member States and the ECDC had dedicated many resources to tackling the possible pandemic of avian flu, but simply not enough was being done to tackle to current epidemic of HCAIs – a real and present problem that is affecting many patients everyday. The lunch was well attended, and included participation by the ECDC, a Cabinet member of Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou and MEPs – all of whom made spontaneous and passionate contributions to the discussion.

At the close of the lunch, the doctors, nurses, patients and experts attending from 9 different Member States at the invitation of HFE were then divided into 7 national teams (the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Poland) and went on to meet with national MEPs and health attaches, with a view to exploring existing best practices in the Member States, and what action can be taken by all stakeholders involved. There is in fact much expertise in Europe and examples of best practice that need to effectively assessed, communicated and their urgent adoption actively encouraged.

MEPs were very interested in the stories and experiences that participants had to relate on the issue of HCAIs. A number of MEPs have since offered to raise this matter in the course of their daily parliamentary work and are liaising directly with HFE members in this respect. HFE has since drafted a letter to MEP Jan Andersson, Chair of the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee, expressing support for a possible hearing on HCAIs with respect to nurses and care givers (proposed by MEP Liz Lynne) to be added to his Committee’s work programme.

Throughout afternoon an information point on HCAIs was manned by the HFE Secretariat on the ground floor of the European Parliament buildings and passers-by were invited to stop and learn more about the serious problem of HCAIs. Information in the form of a brochure, containing HFE’s key messages, and on the most prevalent types of HCAI were distributed to approximately 250 people, while approximately 150 people, including several MEPs took part in the ‘HCAI lottery’. The lottery, taking as its basis the fact revealed by the European Commission that one in ten patients going into hospital will contract a HCAI, enabled those willing to take a chance, to draw at random a ping-pong ball from a bag to see if they were that one in ten people who contract an infection whilst in hospital. While the vast majority of participants escaped with a caution and an ‘I survived the Healthcare Associated Infections Lottery – but I might not be so lucky next time’ HFE sticker, 35 people did go on ‘contract’ an HCAI, illustrating just how real a risk patients and healthcare staff face in hospitals everyday.

MEPs participating in the event included:

• Liz Lynne MEP (ALDE, UK)
• Avril Doyle MEP (EPP-ED, IE)
• Linda McAvan MEP (PES, UK)
• Irena Belohorska MEP (NI, SK)
• Peter Liese MEP (EPP-ED, DE)
• Holger Krahmer MEP (ALDE, DE)
• Bernadette Vergnaud MEP (PES, FR)
• Anne Ferreira MEP (PES, FR)
• Elisabeth Morin MEP (EPP-ED, FR)
• Alejandro Cercas MEP (PES, SP)
• Cristina Gutiérrez-Cortines MEP (EPP-ED, SP)
• Pier Antonio Panzeri MEP (PES, IT)
• Iles Braghetto MEP (EPP-ED, IT)
• Malgorzata Handzlik MEP (EPP-ED, PL)
• Jan Jerzy Kulakowsky MEP (ALDE, PL)
• Lidia Geringer De Oedenberg MEP (PES, PL)
• Marios Matsakis MEP (ALDE, CY)

Other decision-makers participants included:

• Mr Erginel, Cabinet Member of the Health Commissioner, Mr Kyprianou
• John O’Toole, from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
• Todd Weber, from the US Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
• Marco Castellina, Italian health attaché

HFE participants included:

• Mary Banotti, HFE Honorary President
• Juliane Bruderek, Infection Control Nurse from Hannover Medical School
• Dr Ilona Nowak, Hospital manager and member of the board of BDPK, the German Federal Association for Private Hospitals
• Christophe Debout, President of the "Groupement d'Interêt Professionnel en Soins Infirmiers" (GIPSI) and of the "Association nationale des infirmiers et infirmières diplômés d'état" (ANIIDE)
• Judy Birch, HFE Advisory Committee Member and Chief Executive of the Pelvic Pain Network
• Camille Perdigou, Project Manager at BAQIMEHP (Bureau de l’Assurance Qualité et de l’Information Médico-Economique de l’Hospitalisation Privée)
• Annette Jeanes, Infection Control Office Department of Microbiology Windeyer Institute of Medical Science
• Rafael Vicente Reig Recena, General Secretary of SATSE, Spanish Nurses Association
• Esther Mª Reyes Diez, from SATSE, the Spanish Nurses Association
• Mª de los Angeles Pineda Alegre, from SATSE, the Spanish Nurses Association
• Prof. Sierra, Prof. of Microbiology and Preventive Medicine, Regional Vice Minister Canary Islands
• Prof Rossolini, from University of Siena
• Carlo Ramponi, Head Responsible for Quality in the Lombardia Region and Managing director of Joint Commission International
• Antonella Mastretti, Health Director of San Donato Hospital
• Vincenzo Costigliola, Member of HFE Advisory Committee and representing the European Medical Association
• Beata Jagielska, from the European Association for Medical Oncology
• Dorota Kilańska, President of the Polish Nurses Association and lecturer at the Medical University in Lodz
• Mariola Bartusek, Doctor in Economics Studies at the Medical Academy in Katowice;
• Geert Bailleul, from Sint Jan Hospital in Bruges
• Ms Charlotte Pauwelyn, from Pro Medicis in Brussels
• Lieve Blommaert, Hospital Hygienist at AZ VUB Jette
• José Robalo, Deputy Director General of Health
• Jacinto Oliveira, Vice-President of the Portuguese Nurses Order
• Raul Fernandes, from the International Affairs Office of the Portuguese Nurses Order
• Prof Martin Fried, Surgeon and Executive Director of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity
• Mark Grossien, from the European Medical Technology Industry Association
• Anna Ludwinek, from the European Medical Technology Industry Association
• Roy Bridges, Member of the HFE Executive Committee and representing the Medical Technology Group, UK
• Zeger Vercouteren, Member of the HFE Advisory Committee and representing the European Medical Technology Industry Association
• Mark Grossien, HFE Treasurer and representing the European Medical Technology Industry Association
• Anna Ludwinek, from the European Medical Technology Industry Association
• Bert Van Caelenberg, Member of HFE Executive Committee and Secretary General of the European Federation of Public Service Employees
• Femke Beumer, from the European Federation of Public Service Employees
• Paul De Raeve, Member of HFE Executive Committee and Secretary General the European Federation of Nurses Associations
• Paolo Giordano, Member of HFE Executive Committee and General Delegate of the European Union of Private Hospitals
• Maya Parikh, HFE Secretary General

To see HFE’s pre-press release – click here
To see HFE's post-press release - click here
To see HFE key messages document - click here
To see HFE lottery fact sheet - click here