Infected babies’ families asked Trust for confidentiality

That’s according to Dr Anne Kilgallen, the Trust’s on-leave Medical Director, who made the statement at the authority’s Board meeting in July, prior to her sabbatical in Boston.

In early June the Trust reported three babies in the Altnagelvin neo-natal unit were found to have been infected with the Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus Aureus (MSSA) bloodstream infection since May.

Altnagelvin launched a decontamination programme as a result.

A minute of the Trust Board’s July meeting reveals Dr Kilgallen said the parents of the babies asked for their confidentiality to be respected.

A Trust minute states: “She said that the families of the babies affected have asked for ocnfidentiality and the Trust will respect their wishes. Dr Kilgallen, however, assured members that all babies were stable and that there had been no new cases.”

Meanwhile, Dr Kilgallen told Board members the Western Trust continued to have the best record in Northern Ireland when it came to infections arising in the wake of caesarean sections.

“In relation to c-section surgical site infection surveillance rates. Dr Kilgallen advised that the Trust’s rate remained the lowest in the province and the Trust continued to have the highest compliance for completion of surveillance information,” the minute reads.

“In addition surgical site infection surveillance rates reamin well below the one per cent in the entire region.”