The presence of the bacteria which causes legionnaires' disease was detected at Waterford Regional Hospital five months before a 61-year-old patient contracted the disease and died, it has emerged.
The hospital had in 2002 asked an outside agency to conduct twice-yearly water sampling and in November that year it confirmed the presence of legionella bacteria in a shower in the hospital's technical services department.
The shower was replaced and the system flushed with hot water, as legionella does not survive at temperatures above 60 degrees. When sampled again, the water got the all-clear.
However, in April this year, mother of seven Ms Ena Kiely, from Kilmacthomas, Co Waterford, was diagnosed with legionnaires' disease while a patient at the hospital. She died on April 27th and an independent report into the circumstances surrounding her death, published on Wednesday, said she undoubtedly contracted the disease while in the hospital.
It has now emerged that Mr Ray Parle, the principal environmental health officer with the South Eastern Health Board, which runs the hospital, also carried out an investigation into what happened. He refers in his report to the detection of legion-ella in the hospital's technical services department last November. He states this department was separate from the rest of the hospital, with its own water supply. As a result it was not considered necessary to review control systems in the main hospital after the bacteria was found there. However, Mr Parle said that given that the water sampling company found some hot water temperatures were below the recommended 50 degrees in the main hospital, this "might well have prompted a general review of legionella control throughout the hospital" if protocols were in place to deal with unsatisfactory results.