New way to steer clear of the most infection prone public hospitals Hospitals are full of sick people, so they are also full of germs and bacteria, but some are cleaner than others. Picture Sebastian Kaulitzki Source: Supplied AUSTRALIANS can now avoid the nation's dirtiest or infection prone public hospitals and find the best performers using a new internet tool. Health fund HCF has developed a web based search engine - www.hcf.com.au/hospitalsafetyandquality - that allows patients to compare the superbug infection rate and handwashing records of up to ten hospitals at a time. A search through hospitals in Sydney reveals that Westmead and Blacktown hospitals have rates of superbug and golden staph infections that exceed national benchmarks of two cases per 10,000 patients treated. Meanwhile, the Royal Prince Alfred, the Royal Hospital for women and St Vincent's Hospital have lower infection rates. In Melbourne, the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre has rates of superbug and golden staph infections that exceed national benchmarks or two cases per 10,000 patients treated, but the Royal Women's Hospital and St Vincent's Hospital have much lower infection rates. A Brisbane search shows none have golden staph infection rates that exceed the national benchmark. In fact, The Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane has the lowest rate of such infections in the country at 0.47 cases per 10,000 patients treated, well below the national benchmark of two cases per 10,000 patients. A search through hospitals in Adelaide shows the Royal Adelaide Hospital has rates of superbug infections that exceed the national benchmark. The search engine shows all the major hospitals in Perth performed well, with low rates of superbug infections. King Edward Hospital had the lowest golden staph infection rates and Armadale public hospital also rated well. In Tasmania, the Royal Hobart Hospital is a good performer with superbug infection rates below the benchmark. Golden staph is a bloodstream infection that proves fatal in 20-35 percent of cases and it is used as a key measure of hospital quality and safety. Each year, around 35,000 Australians treated in public and private hospitals develop an infection following a procedure. In 2011-12, 1725 of these infections in public hospitals were golden staph infections. How to cut your public surgery wait Another key safety and quality measure is handwashing rates. The search engine shows that staff at Westmead Hospital and The Prince of Wales Hospital in NSW have poor rates of handwashing before and after touching patients. Rates at these hospitals is below the national benchmark of 70 per cent. The Royal Hospital for women and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital have handwashing rates above the national benchmark. The Royal Melbourne Hospital has poor rates, below the national benchmark. The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre is ahead of benchmarks and its high golden staph infection rate is more likely to be due to the sicker and more vulnerable cancer patients it treats. The search engine reveals that Logan Hospital and Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane have poor rates of handwashing. The search engine reveals that the Flinders Medical Centre in SA has poor rates, as does WA's Armadale hospital, Fremantle public hospital and Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital. In Tasmania, the Royal Hobart Hospital performs well. HCF Chief Medical Officer Dr Andrew Cottrill says the new search engine is an attempt to make healthcare information more accessible to HCF members and non-members alike. It draws on government data from the MyHospitals website but allows patients to easily compare hospitals around the country or within their region. "HCF believes strongly that patients should have access to better information so they can make a more informed choice about where to receive hospital care," he said. We hope it helps usher in a new era of information transparency and empowerment of patient choice in hospital care. The HCF data relates only to public hospitals but Australia's second largest private hospital group Healthscope is providing even more comprehensive data on the performance of its 44 hospitals around the country. Healthscope hospitals treat over 565,000 patients a year and the group provides data on 21 quality and safety benchmarks including patient falls and pressure injuries, unplanned readmissions, apgar scores in babies and mental health and rehabilitation outcomes. Healthscope medical director Dr Michael Coglin says his group's data base shows much better waiting times for emergency care than at public hospitals and golden staph infection rates that are much lower than in public hospitals. Healthscope either meets or exceeds industry standards for all 21 indicators, he said.