Hospital-Acquired Infection Claims in Ireland
Dublin-based, serving clients across Ireland · 01 9036408 ·
Summary: You may be able to make a hospital-acquired infection claim in Ireland, but only where the infection resulted from a failure to meet the required standard of infection prevention and control, not simply because an infection occurred. A hospital-acquired infection claim is a type of medical negligence personal injury claim, and your ability to understand and pursue compensation for injury in Ireland turns on proving two things: that the hospital breached a recognised infection-control standard, and that this breach caused the infection and the harm that followed.
In short: Catching an infection in hospital is not, by itself, negligence. Infections happen even with excellent care. A claim arises only where a hospital broke a recognised standard of infection prevention and control, for example failing to screen or isolate a patient, poor hand hygiene, or a breach of sterile technique, and that specific failure caused the infection and the resulting harm. Irish courts assess this using the Dunne standard of care. Medical negligence claims do not go through the Injuries Resolution Board. They go straight to court.
Contents
Hospital-acquired infection claims in Ireland at a glance
| What is it? | An infection caused by hospital care, also called a nosocomial or healthcare-associated infection. |
|---|---|
| Is the infection alone enough? | No. You must prove a breach of infection-control standards that caused the infection and the harm. |
| The legal test | The Dunne standard of care, reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in Morrissey v HSE [2020] IESC 6. |
| Who decides the claim? | A court. Medical negligence is excluded from the Injuries Resolution Board. |
| Who pays compensation? | For public hospitals, the State Claims Agency. For private hospitals, their own insurer. |
| Time limit | Generally two years, often running from the date of knowledge rather than the date of infection. |
| Key evidence | Medical records, the hospital’s infection-control and HIQA inspection records, and an independent microbiologist’s report. |
| Compensation | General damages under the Personal Injuries Guidelines (2021) plus special damages for financial loss. Awards vary case by case. |
What is a hospital-acquired infection?
A hospital-acquired infection is an infection a patient develops as a result of being treated in hospital, rather than one they arrived with. It is also called a nosocomial infection or a healthcare-associated infection, and the three terms mean the same thing. These infections appear after admission and are linked to care such as surgery, catheters, drips, or simply contact with a clinical environment. This page deals with infections acquired in acute hospitals. Infections in other settings, such as nursing homes, raise similar infection-control questions and are covered on our nursing home negligence page.
Healthcare-associated infections are common. On any given day, roughly one in twenty patients in an Irish acute hospital has a healthcare-associated infection, a burden reflected in HIQA’s national standards HIQA National Standards (Updated May 2017) [1]. In the most recent national survey of all 65 Irish acute hospitals, carried out in May 2023, respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia were the most commonly reported type, with urinary tract, surgical site, bloodstream, and gastrointestinal infections (including Clostridioides difficile) also among the most frequent HPSC Point Prevalence Survey 2023 (Updated November 2024) [7]. That these infections are common matters for a simple reason: because they happen so often, the law does not treat the fact of an infection as proof that anyone did anything wrong.
You may have seen the idea that an infection becoming clinically apparent more than 48 hours after admission is presumed to be hospital-acquired. This is a clinical surveillance definition, used to separate a hospital-acquired infection from one a patient carried in from the community, so that infections can be counted and monitored. It is not, on its own, a legal test of negligence. Even where the timing points to a hospital source, a claim still has to prove a breach of an infection-control standard and that the breach caused the infection. We explain that legal threshold next.
When is a hospital-acquired infection negligence?
A hospital-acquired infection is negligence only where the hospital failed to meet the required standard of infection prevention and control, and that failure caused the infection. An infection on its own is not negligence. Infections can occur even when every reasonable precaution is taken, especially for patients who are immunocompromised, in intensive care, or undergoing invasive procedures.
We set out the legal threshold as the three-question infection negligence test: first, was a recognised infection-control standard breached? Second, did that breach cause this infection? Third, did the infection cause harm? All three must be answered yes. The test is what keeps an unlucky infection apart from a negligent one.
Irish courts measure the standard of care using the principles set out in Dunne v National Maternity Hospital [1989] IR 91, reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in Morrissey v HSE [2020] IESC 6. In an infection case, the question is not whether an individual diagnosis was wrong but whether the hospital allowed a lapse in infection-control practice that no competent hospital, acting with ordinary care, would have allowed. Unlike the position in England and Wales, where the Bolam test applies, Irish law follows Dunne, and a defendant cannot escape liability simply by showing that some other practitioners might have acted the same way.
The benchmark of approved practice
To show a hospital fell below the standard, a claimant points to a recognised benchmark. The main one is HIQA’s National Standards for the Prevention and Control of Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Healthcare Services, which set out 29 standards across eight themes covering governance, hand hygiene, isolation, decontamination, and surveillance [1]. Alongside it sits the national infection prevention and control guideline produced by the HSE Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control (AMRIC) programme, which is the operational manual for frontline staff HSE, Healthcare-Associated Infections (Updated 2026) [2]. A documented departure from these standards is the foundation of a breach-of-duty argument.
Failures that can support a claim
Some infection-control breaches are far easier to prove than a vague allegation of poor hygiene, because they leave a record. The table below shows common examples and why each is provable.
| Infection-control failure | Why it can be proven |
|---|---|
| Not screening for MRSA or other organisms on admission where screening was indicated. | Admission swab results, or their absence, are in the records. |
| Placing an infectious patient in an open ward instead of isolation. | Bed-management and isolation records show where the patient was nursed. |
| Poor hand-hygiene compliance among the staff caring for the patient. | Hospitals audit hand-hygiene compliance and the audit data can be obtained. |
| Breaches of sterile technique in theatre, including improperly decontaminated instruments. | Theatre notes and decontamination logs document the procedure. |
| Inappropriate or excessive antibiotic prescribing. | The drug chart shows what was prescribed and when. |
| A failure to recognise or treat an infection promptly once its signs were present. | Observation charts and the timing of treatment show any delay. |
The mirror image is just as important. An infection that develops despite full compliance with these standards is not negligence. The table below shows how the same pathogen can fall on either side of the line.
| Situation | Likely position |
|---|---|
| Patient screened MRSA-negative on admission, not isolated during a known ward outbreak, then develops MRSA matching the outbreak strain. | Potential claim. A screening or isolation failure may be a breach, and typing can link the strain. |
| Immunocompromised ICU patient develops an infection despite documented compliance with all infection-control standards. | Unlikely to be negligence. Infection here can be an unavoidable risk of intensive care. |
| Patient given broad-spectrum antibiotics that were not clinically indicated, then develops C. difficile, with isolation delayed after symptoms began. | Potential claim. Inappropriate prescribing plus a delayed-isolation failure can be breaches. |
| Surgical wound infection after a documented breach of sterile technique recorded in theatre notes. | Potential claim. A recorded sterile-technique breach is provable and can be linked to the infection. |
Why this matters: the distinction between an infection that is bad luck and one that is negligence is the single most important point in this area, and it is where most generic guidance falls short. For the deeper evidential analysis of how a breach is established, see our page on infection control failures.
The hospital’s own systems can be the issue, not just an individual
A hospital infection claim does not have to point at one named doctor or nurse. The claim can be against the hospital’s own systems, such as its infection-control governance, staffing, screening and isolation arrangements, and decontamination, where a failure in those systems caused the infection. Irish courts have recognised that a hospital may owe duties it cannot simply pass to an independent contractor, a point considered in Byrne v Ryan [2007] IEHC 207, [2009] 4 IR 542 and again by the Supreme Court in Morrissey v HSE [2020] IESC 6. In practice this means a finding that the hospital, as an organisation, fell below the standard of infection prevention and control can support a claim even where no single individual is singled out.
What hospital-acquired infections can you claim for?
You can claim for any hospital-acquired infection where a breach of infection-control standards caused it, but a few organisms account for most claims. Each raises slightly different infection-control questions. This hub gives a short overview, with dedicated pages for the most common claim types.
Screening, isolation and hand-hygiene failures. C. difficile claims
Antibiotic prescribing and delayed isolation. Surgical site infection claims
Sterile technique and post-operative wound care. Sepsis from a hospital infection
When an infection becomes life-threatening.
Other organisms appear in Irish hospitals too. Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) became a notifiable infection in Ireland and persists in the hospital environment, including in drains and sink traps, so claims can turn on a failure to decontaminate or to restrict an affected ward during a known outbreak [2]. Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), urinary tract infections linked to catheter care, and hospital-acquired pneumonia also feature. Where an infection progresses to sepsis, two separate questions can arise, which we address on the sepsis from a hospital infection page above and, for diagnostic failures specifically, on our existing page about a missed sepsis diagnosis.
What do you have to prove?
You must prove a breach of the infection-control duty and causation, and causation is usually the harder element. It is not enough to show that an infection occurred. You have to show that the specific breach, rather than chance or the unavoidable background risk of being in hospital, caused this infection and the harm that followed. In the three-question infection negligence test, this is where the second and third questions are won or lost.
Because organisms also circulate in the community, linking a patient’s infection to the hospital often requires a consultant microbiologist’s report. That report may use genomic typing to match the patient’s organism to a hospital strain or a ward outbreak while ruling out community acquisition. We set out the evidence in three layers, which we call the three-source infection evidence model:
| Evidence layer | What it establishes |
|---|---|
| Regulatory and audit layer | HIQA inspection reports for the ward and period, and the hospital’s own hand-hygiene compliance data, show whether approved practice was being followed. |
| Microbiological layer | A consultant microbiologist’s report, often with genomic typing, links the organism to a hospital source and addresses causation. |
| Protocol-adherence layer | The hospital’s infection-control policies, isolation and screening records, and staff training compliance show whether the duty was met in this patient’s care. |
Some of this evidence is measurable rather than a matter of opinion. The HSE sets a national hand-hygiene compliance target of 90 per cent, and the Health Protection Surveillance Centre publishes audited compliance results, so a ward that recorded compliance below that level during the admission gives objective support to a breach argument HPSC National Hand Hygiene Compliance Results (Updated 2025) [8].
An independent expert is essential, which is why early advice matters. The three-source infection evidence model only works if the records behind each layer still exist, so establishing breach and causation normally requires a supportive report before proceedings can be issued, and assembling that evidence takes time. Our work with expert witnesses covers how microbiology and infection-control experts are instructed.
What evidence do you need?
You need your full medical records plus the hospital’s own infection-control documentation, and the most useful records are often the ones the hospital holds rather than the ones you already have. Gather and preserve evidence early. The core sources are:
- , including admission screening swabs, all culture results, and the timing of symptom onset. You can request these under GDPR Article 15, a data subject access request, and the hospital must normally respond within one month.
- , including the hospital’s isolation and screening protocols and its hand-hygiene compliance records.
- for the relevant hospital and period. HIQA inspects public acute hospitals against the 29 national standards and publishes each report, so a report covering the relevant ward and timeframe can serve as independent, contemporaneous evidence of whether approved practice was being followed [1].
- , often including genomic typing, addressing whether a breach caused the infection.
A practical point from handling these cases: the evidence that often settles the causation question is the comparison between a patient’s admission screening swabs and their later cultures, read alongside the ward’s infection-control records for the same period. Where screening was negative on admission and the same organism appears later during a known ward problem, that timeline is what an expert relies on to address causation.
Each of these records feeds one layer of the three-source infection evidence model, which is why a hospital infection claim is only as strong as the documentation behind it.
What changed recently: the Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023 commenced on 26 September 2024 and introduced mandatory open disclosure of specified notifiable incidents in Irish hospitals Irish Statute Book (Updated 2024) [3]. An apology or disclosure under the Act is not an admission of liability, but the duty can change what information is available when an infection is investigated.
How much compensation can you claim?
Compensation has two parts, general damages for the pain and effect of the infection and special damages for your financial losses, and the amount depends entirely on how serious and lasting the infection is. General damages cover pain, suffering, scarring, and the psychological impact of the infection. Special damages cover financial losses such as additional treatment, prolonged hospitalisation, lost earnings, care costs, and any future needs.
General damages in Ireland are guided by the Judicial Council Personal Injuries Guidelines (2021), which replaced the former Book of Quantum. The Guidelines value an injury by its type, severity, and duration rather than by a fixed tariff, so a hospital-acquired infection is valued by what it actually caused, for example a respiratory or gastrointestinal illness, scarring, the need for further surgery, or a lasting disability, and by how long the effects last. The Guidelines give indicative ranges, and courts retain discretion to depart from them. Our explainer on the Personal Injuries Guidelines sets out how the bands work, and the medical negligence compensation page covers how awards are built.
Because the Guidelines have no standalone category for infection, an infection is valued under the chapter that fits what it caused. Chapter 6, on injuries to internal organs, values an illness from a non-traumatic cause such as a gut infection or food poisoning from about €500 where symptoms settle within days, to €6,000 to €20,000 for moderate symptoms that need a hospital stay with full recovery inside a year, and up to €50,000 to €100,000 for severe toxicosis that leaves lasting bowel effects. A respiratory illness is valued separately under the same chapter, from about €3,500 to €7,500 for a mild chest condition that clears within a year, to €60,000 to €120,000 where breathing is left lastingly impaired. Where an infection causes a permanent disability, it is valued by the organ or limb affected, and the most catastrophic injuries reach in or about €550,000. These are the published ranges in the Guidelines, not a prediction of any individual award. The figure in a given case turns on the medical evidence, the severity, and how long the effects last.
In the most serious cases, where an infection causes catastrophic or lifelong injury, awards can run much higher once future care and loss of earnings are factored in, and a court may make a periodic payment order rather than a single lump sum. The scale of clinical liability in Ireland reflects this. The State Claims Agency paid €210.5 million in clinical damages in 2024, and estimated outstanding clinical and general liability reached €5.35 billion across 10,968 active claims, with clinical claims making up about 37 per cent of the caseload but roughly 81 per cent of the liability NTMA Annual Report 2024 (Published July 2025) [4].
How long do you have to claim?
The general time limit is two years, but for infections the date of knowledge often starts the clock later, because you may only realise the infection was caused by negligence well after the hospital stay. The two-year period is set by section 7 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004, which amended section 3 of the Statute of Limitations (Amendment) Act 1991 to reduce the period from three years to two with effect from 31 March 2005, and it runs from the date of the incident or the date of knowledge, whichever is later. This is a shorter window than in the United Kingdom. England and Wales allow three years and give a court discretion to extend that period, and Northern Ireland also allows three years, but those rules do not apply in the Republic of Ireland.
For a hospital infection, the clock frequently starts only when you knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that the injury was attributable to a wrongful act or omission. That is often the date of an independent expert report linking the infection to a breach of infection-control standards, not the date the infection was diagnosed. Because this is technical and fact-specific, see our pages on the date of knowledge and time limits for medical negligence claims, and the dedicated time limits for hospital infection claims page.
Special situations change the position. For children, the two-year period generally does not begin until they reach 18. For a person who lacked the mental capacity to bring a claim, the two-year clock is paused while that incapacity continues, and where the incapacity is permanent no deadline runs at all. Since the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 came fully into force in April 2023, capacity is assessed on a functional, decision-by-decision basis with a presumption of capacity, the former wards of court system has been replaced by the Decision Support Service, and a decision-making representative can be appointed through the Circuit Court to bring a claim for someone who cannot bring it themselves. Where a person has died, a claim may be brought by their dependants or estate, and our fatal injury claims page explains how those deadlines work.
Which time limit applies?
Select the situation that fits best to see which rule applies. This does not calculate or set your deadline.
How does a hospital infection claim work?
A hospital infection claim does not go through the Injuries Resolution Board. Medical negligence claims are excluded from the Board and proceed directly to court. The Injuries Resolution Board (IRB), formerly known as the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) until 2023, assesses standard personal injury claims such as road traffic and workplace accidents. It does not handle clinical negligence Citizens Information (Updated 2025) [5]. The exclusion comes from the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003, section 3(d), which carves medical negligence out of the claims the Board assesses.
This has a practical consequence for timing. Lodging an application with the IRB for a clinical matter does not pause the two-year clock. The only way to stop it is to issue proceedings, which for higher-value or complex cases are taken in the High Court Clinical Negligence List Courts Service (Updated 2025) [6]. A supportive expert report on breach and causation is normally required at an early stage. That report is usually the main upfront cost, often a few thousand euro and more in complex cases, which is why many solicitors offer a no win no fee arrangement and after-the-event insurance can cover the other side’s costs if a claim does not succeed. Our claim process page walks through each step.
How we can help
As personal injury solicitors in Dublin serving clients across Ireland, we handle hospital-acquired infection claims from start to finish: retrieving your medical and infection-control records, instructing independent microbiology and infection-control experts, establishing breach and causation, and negotiating or, where necessary, litigating the claim. You don’t pay for an expert out of pocket up front in most cases, and we will tell you at the outset whether your situation is worth investigating further. This is part of the wider field of medical negligence, and it sits within the law on personal injury claims in Ireland.
What to do now. If you think an infection may have been caused by negligence, a few early steps protect your position:
- Write down the dates: when you were admitted, when the infection appeared, and when you were told about it.
- Request your medical records in writing under GDPR Article 15. The hospital normally has one month to respond.
- Keep anything that shows the impact, such as letters about further treatment, time off work, and out-of-pocket costs.
- Get an independent expert review early, because the two-year time limit can run from your date of knowledge.
- Speak to a solicitor before the deadline is close, so evidence can be preserved.
Quick self-check: might you have a claim?
Answer three questions for general guidance. Nothing is recorded.
1. Did the infection develop during or shortly after a hospital stay, rather than before it?
2. Is there a sign that infection-control practice slipped, such as not being screened or isolated when you should have been, or treatment being delayed once the infection appeared?
3. Did the infection cause you real harm, such as further surgery, a longer stay, lasting damage, or financial loss?
References
- Health Information and Quality Authority. National Standards for the Prevention and Control of Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Healthcare Services (May 2017). hiqa.ie
- Health Service Executive. Healthcare-Associated Infections (patient information and AMRIC infection prevention and control guidance). hse.ie
- Patient Safety (Notifiable Incidents and Open Disclosure) Act 2023 (commenced 26 September 2024). irishstatutebook.ie
- National Treasury Management Agency. Annual Report 2024, State Claims Agency section (published July 2025). stateclaims.ie
- Citizens Information. Injuries Resolution Board (medical negligence claims are excluded). citizensinformation.ie
- Courts Service of Ireland. Clinical Negligence List. courts.ie
- Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC). Point Prevalence Survey of Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Use in Irish Acute Hospitals 2023, National Report (published November 2024). hpsc.ie
- Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC). National Hand Hygiene Compliance Results, against the HSE 90 per cent target. hpsc.ie
Common questions
Can I claim if I caught an infection in hospital?
Possibly, but only if the infection was caused by a failure to meet the required standard of infection prevention and control. Catching an infection isn’t enough on its own, because infections happen even with good care. You’d need to show a breach, such as a missed screening or a failure to isolate, and link it to your infection with expert evidence. A solicitor can review your records to see whether that link is there.
Is every hospital infection negligence?
No. Catching an infection in hospital is not negligence on its own. Infections can occur even when a hospital follows every reasonable precaution, especially for very ill or immunocompromised patients. A claim exists only where the hospital broke a recognised standard of infection prevention and control and that breach caused the infection and the harm.
What’s the difference between an infection that’s bad luck and one that’s negligence?
Bad luck is an infection that develops despite proper care, which is an unavoidable risk in hospital. Negligence is an infection caused by a failure to meet the required standard, for example a missed screening, a failure to isolate, poor hand hygiene, or a breach of sterile technique. The difference is decided by expert evidence linking a specific failure to your infection, not by the fact that you got sick.
Can I claim if I caught MRSA in hospital?
You may be able to, where the MRSA resulted from an infection-control failure rather than from the presence of MRSA alone. Typical issues are whether you were screened on admission, whether an infectious patient was isolated, and whether hand hygiene was followed. Genomic typing can sometimes link your strain to a ward outbreak. Our page on MRSA infection claims goes into detail.
What if the infection wasn’t treated quickly enough?
A delay in recognising or treating an infection can itself be negligence, separately from how the infection was caught. If the signs of infection were present and a competent hospital would have acted sooner, that delay may be a breach, particularly where the infection then progressed to sepsis from a hospital infection. The records showing when symptoms appeared and when treatment started are central to this.
Who pays compensation for a hospital infection in Ireland?
For public hospitals, claims are managed and paid through the State Claims Agency, which handles clinical negligence claims against State health bodies. Private hospitals and individual practitioners are covered by their own indemnity instead. This is why most hospital infection claims involve the State Claims Agency rather than an ordinary insurer, and it shapes how the claim is defended and resolved.
How much is a hospital infection claim worth?
It depends on how serious and lasting the infection is. General damages are guided by the Judicial Council Personal Injuries Guidelines (2021), which give indicative ranges, and special damages cover financial losses such as treatment and lost earnings. The Guidelines have no separate infection heading, so an infection is valued by what it caused. As a guide, a gut illness from a non-traumatic cause runs from about €500 for short-lived symptoms to €6,000 to €20,000 where a hospital stay is needed with full recovery inside a year, and a lasting respiratory condition can reach €60,000 to €120,000. Where an infection leaves a permanent disability, the most catastrophic injuries reach in or about €550,000. These are published ranges, and the actual figure turns on the medical evidence in your case. Our medical negligence compensation page explains how an award is built.
How long do I have to claim for a hospital infection?
The general limit is two years, but the date of knowledge can start the clock later, because you might only learn that an infection was caused by negligence after an expert review. Children and people who lacked capacity are treated differently. Because the date of knowledge is fact-specific, it is best to get advice early so evidence is not lost.
Can I claim if a family member died from a hospital infection?
Yes. Where a person has died, their dependants or estate can bring a claim, and a separate sum for the statutory dependants may apply. These cases are handled sensitively and have their own deadlines. Our page on fatal injury claims explains who can claim and how the time limits work.
Does a hospital infection claim go through the Injuries Board?
No. Medical negligence claims, including those arising from hospital-acquired infections, are excluded from the Injuries Resolution Board and proceed directly to court. A supportive expert report on breach and causation is normally required at an early stage, and higher-value cases are taken in the High Court Clinical Negligence List.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Every case depends on its own facts and outcomes vary. This page covers the law of the Republic of Ireland only. For advice on your situation, speak to a qualified solicitor.
Gary Matthews Solicitors
Medical negligence solicitors, Dublin
We help people every day of the week (weekends and bank holidays included) that have either been injured or harmed as a result of an accident or have suffered from negligence or malpractice.
Contact us at our Dublin office to get started with your claim today
