THE NORTH’S Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority has complained that the Belfast Health Trust should have been quicker in declaring an outbreak of pseudomonas that claimed the lives of four babies in hospitals in Belfast and Derry.
The spread of the pseudomonas bacteria that caused the deaths of three babies at the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital in Belfast in January and of a baby at the Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry in December most likely occurred through use of tap water during nappy changes, it found.
The authority, in an interim report yesterday, made 15 recommendations, including a call for the new neonatal intensive care unit at the Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital to be completed as soon as possible. The investigation is chaired by Prof Patricia Ann Troop, former chief executive of the health protection agency in England.
Prof Troop said it was possible that had the Belfast trust acted sooner the lives of some of the babies might have been saved.
In future an outbreak will be declared after one case of pseudomonas rather than after three cases, as was the situation.
There are five regional health trusts in Northern Ireland and the authority complained that the trusts had different approaches to declaring outbreaks of pseudomonas aeruginosa, which can be dangerous to people with low immune systems.
“This may have led to a delay in putting control measures in place when cases of infection occurred. It is recommended that an agreed approach is established across all trusts,” the report stated.
“There is no agreed system for the surveillance of pseudomonas colonisation and infection, and this led to delays in sharing of information between trusts. It is recommended that a surveillance system is established as soon as possible.”
The authority also recommended that “all relevant organisations should work to an agreed regional protocol for the declaration of outbreaks”.
The North’s Minister for Health Edwin Poots has already instructed that taps in the neonatal units of all hospitals in Northern Ireland be replaced.
“The most likely method of spread of pseudomonas aeruginosa from contaminated taps to babies in Altnagelvin and Royal Jubilee neonatal units was through the use of tap water for washing during nappy changes. The use of tap water in RJMS to defrost breast milk may also have contributed,” the authority reported.
