Tougher Legionella rules for hospitals

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The Wesley Hospital misled the public with its claims about it Legionella record.

 

LEGIONELLA test results from every public and private hospital and aged care facility in Queensland will be made public under a radical overhaul of the system by the State Government.

The law changes, to be introduced to Parliament in the coming months, will also require hospitals to test their water supplies for the bacteria regularly and report the results to the state department of health.

 

Health providers will be required to report their results to the department every three months and those reports will be made public.

Under the proposed changes, the department will have the power to direct amendments to a hospital or aged care facility’s water quality risk management plan if it is found to be inadequate.

If an hospital or aged care facility is found to not be compliant with the laws they can be fined nearly $24,000 .

It comes after The Courier-Mail revealed The Wesley Hospital misled the public over a recent Legionnaires outbreak when it said it had been free of the disease since 2013.

A patient tested positive for Legionella in December, with an ice machine also testing positive.

Last month, the Mater Private Hospital revealed a patient had tested positive for legionella.

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services said greater transparency was required.

Currently, private hospitals are not legally required to report positive tests to the Department of Health.

The government is also prohibited from releasing any private hospital test results to the public by current laws.

“Under these changes, hospitals and residential aged care facilities will be required to conduct regular tests for the Legionella bacteria and those results will be made public,” Mr Dick said.

“What we are doing is putting in place a framework which is more transparent and will give the public more confidence that hospitals are regularly testing their water supplies for Legionella bacteria.”

Mr Dick said that he did not want to overstate the prevalence or threat of Legionella, but it was important that the information flow was managed in a systematic way.

“I want to make sure facilities are testing and reporting adequately to the department, and that we’re communicating those results publicly,” he said.

The proposed legislation was endorsed by Cabinet this week.

Mr Dick said he would seek support from the Opposition and crossbenchers for the changes.