A 30-bed unit adjacent to and run by Dublin's Beaumont Hospital has been temporarily closed after legionella bacteria was found in its water supply. Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent, reports.
Patients in the unit, which only opened in the summer to provide step-down beds for older people being discharged from Beaumont and the Mater hospitals, have been moved to St Joseph's Hospital in Raheny to allow remedial works be carried out.
Beaumont Hospital, which runs the Rockfield unit, stressed yesterday that the legionella bacteria, which causes legionnaires' disease, was found during routine water testing. It emphasised that no patient had contracted legionnaires' disease.
It confirmed the bacteria was found in the water at the unit in mid-August and for a number of weeks afterwards patients were supplied with bottled water.
The main water source where the bacteria was found was "suspended".
Work began quickly in an effort to eliminate the problem while patients were still in occupation but it then emerged that more substantial engineering work was required and most of the patients were moved to Raheny in the past two weeks. A small number were also readmitted to Beaumont.
A spokesman for Beaumont hospital said the patients had been moved out "for their own comfort" while the remedial works got under way.