Legionaires risk at drogheda hospital

A report by health watchdog HIQA into Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda has warned of high risks for patients, due to hygiene problems, including the risk of contracting Legionnaires’ Disease.
The Health Information and Quality Authority said it is a “significant concern” that the risk of Legionella persists in the hospital water supply, despite significant financial investment to address the problem.
In a statement issued today the hospital acknowledged the issues raised by the HIQA report following inspections of the hospital in June and July 2015 and welcomed HIQA’s acknowledgement of the improvements and progress made by the hospital management team and staff in respect of all issues raised on their initial visit.
“The hospital has a robust governance structure in place for the management of all aspects of the National Standards for the Prevention and Control of Healthcare Associated Infections. The hospital has developed a quality improvement plan to address the remaining outstanding issues raised in the report,” according to the statement.
The Hospital pointed out it has a robust system of actively managing all of the processes that minimise the likelihood of Legionella bacteria in the water supply, to ensure a high level of protection to all patients and staff.  
“The hospital is compliant with the Legionella L10 international Code of Practice.
“Water quality management is monitored and governed by the Louth Hospital Environmental Management Committee. This is a multidisciplinary group including a Consultant Microbiologist.
“There have been no hospital acquired infections associated with Legionella bacteria in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.
“The hospital has engineered solutions in place to ensure the quality of water supply including Copper Silver treatment of water to eliminate Legionella bacteria. This has been in place for the last four years.
“In addition regular flushing of all low use outlets is in place on a daily basis.”
The statement said there is an ongoing process to measure the efficacy of this treatment process with monthly sampling of water to ensure adequate levels of this treatment process at point of use.