“Where these figures have been published overseas, health systems have been able to address the causes and bring down the rates,” said AMA (NSW) President Dr Brian Morton.

“Evidence gathered in Australia and overseas has shown that infection rates are directly associated with bed occupancy levels.  In other words, high infection rates indicate a system wide problem and cannot be attributed solely to a lack of hygiene.

“Information about key performance measures such as infection rates is needed to make productive and efficient use of our overburdened public hospitals.

“In the Netherlands, for instance, the creation of a nursing home medical specialty has brought hospital bed occupancy rates down to 64 per cent, while the average occupancy rate in OECD countries is 75 per cent.

“In NSW, public teaching hospitals operate at level exceeding 95 per cent. Rates above 85 per cent have been shown to compromise patient safety and emergency care.

“AMA (NSW) has estimated that NSW needs about 1000 additional hospital beds to reduce occupancy rates, but this figure has not been acknowledged by the government.