The Minister for Health has described as disappointing an independent audit, which showed that not one of Ireland's public hospitals have 'very good' hygiene standards.
The research, carried out by the Health Information and Quality Authority, rated seven hospitals as having good hygiene, 35 as fair and nine as poor.
Ms Harney said that every chief executive officer and every Hospital Board would have to take the findings very seriously.
The authority said the message to hospitals is that they can and should do better.
The review is the first independent national hygiene audit conducted by the Health Information and Quality Authority.
The seven best performing hospitals, which received a 'good' rating were at Tallaght, Beaumont, St James's, St Vincent's and the Rotunda all in Dublin, Naas General and St Luke's in Kilkenny.
The nine worst performing hospitals in the hygiene audit, which received a 'poor' rating, were the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Nenagh, Our Lady of Lourdes in Louth, Our Lady's in Navan, Mallow General, Portiuncula in Co Galway, Roscommon County Hospital, St Mary's Orthopaedic in Cork, Wexford General and St Michael's Hospital in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin.
The assessments included unannounced visits by the authority's assessors, as well as interviews with staff, managers, patients and visitors between March and September this year.
HIQA has recommended that the HSE should set a national set of indicators for monitoring hygiene, infection control and performance.
It must also have a formal corporate management structure with clear goals for hygiene and reducing healthcare associated infections.
