26/07/2007

Belfast City Hospital unit reopens

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Belfast City Hospital, which closed as a result of two patients contracting a multi-resistant bacterial infection, has now reopened.

The ICU had been closed to new admissions on Tuesday, with emergency patients being treated in the hospital’s High Dependency Unit and the ICU reopened at 9.00am on Thursday morning.

On Wednesday, consultant medical microbiologist at the hospital, Dr Ann Loughrey, said that a deep clean was under way in the unit and that an investigation into how the patients contracted the infection would take place.

Dr Loughrey also said that the ‘acinetobacter’ bacteria were present in both outdoor and indoor healthcare premises and were among the many organisms that can affect vulnerable patients in the intensive care unit.

The two infected patients are still being treated in isolation on other wards.

(SB/SP)

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