Only one public hospital in the country has been rated by patients in the top 10 cleanest hospitals in Ireland, with the others in the hygiene top 10 all private hospitals, according to the latest figures from irishhealth.com's Rate my Hospital facility. However, a number of public hospitals have been rated as cleaner than some private centres, according to the data.

Over 16,300 patients and their relatives have now used Rate My Hospital to rate and post comments on hospital service quality. They are asked to rate hospitals on a score of one to five under 23 different headings in what is thought to be the most comprehensive patient satisfaction database available - and one which, unlike other surveys, is generated by patient experiences.

This is the first time that the figures have compared hygiene ratings of private and public hospitals.
The cleanest hospital in the country, according to Rate My Hospital, is Aut Even in Kilkenny, scoring an average of 4.84 out of five, with a public hospital, St Luke's Cancer Hospital in Rathgar, in second place, with a score of 4.81. The remaining hospitals in the top 10 are all private centres.

The dirtiest hospital, according to joint ratings of private and public hospitals by patients and their relatives, is Waterford Regional, scoring only 2.45 out of five, in 67th place. Also in the bottom six are the Coombe, Kerry General, the Midwestern Regional, Ennis , the Midwestern Regional, Limerick and Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda.

While it might be expected that private hospitals would usually out-perform their public counterparts on hygiene standards, some public hospitals have performed well in comparison to private centres. For example, St Luke's in Dublin has outperformed all private hospitals in the hygiene stakes bar Aut Even, with a score of 4.81.

The highest scoring acute public hospital is St John's of Limerick, which, with a score of 4.26, has been rated by patients as being cleaner than the Mater and St Vincent's private hospitals in Dublin, as well as the private hospitals Shanakiel in Cork and Barrington's in Limerick.

Monaghan Hospital has been rated as cleaner than St Vincent's Private, while Mallow, the Rotunda and Bantry Hospitals have been rated as cleaner than Barrington's.

The top five cleanest acute public hospitals are, in descending order: St John's; Monaghan General; Mallow General; the Rotunda and Bantry General.

The highest scoring of the 'big five' major general Dublin hospitals in the public/private hygiene table is St James's, in 43th place with a score of 3.38 out of five.

Further statistics from Rate My Hospital show that 7.2% of patients say they have contracted MRSA or another healthcare-associated infection in public hospitals around the country. A 2006 study indicated that 4.9% of patients in Ireland overall had a healthcare-associated infection at the time of the survey.

To view the public/private league table on hygiene, see:

www.irishhealth.com/stats/reports/all/qid1.html

To view the acute public hospitals league table on hygiene, see:

www.irishhealth.com/stats/reports/acute/qid1.html

For overall league table and comments on hospitals, see:

www.ratemyhospital.ie