Could Legionnaires be behind Raigmore contamination issue?
The recent “potential risk of contamination to the hot water” at Raigmore Hospital may have been linked to Legionnaires disease, according to an official resource flagging-up best advice for the health and social care sector.
NHS Highland revealed that during routine maintenance “a potential risk of contamination to the hot water supply” was discovered and that “appropriate disinfection measures” were undertaken.
That was on Friday 21 February and the same day the Healthcare Improvement Scotland's Right Decision Service issued “rapid guidance dissemination” concerning Legionella.
The service is the “national decision support service for Scotland’s health and social care” providing “digital tools that enable health and care staff and citizens to make safe decisions quickly on the go”.
Its post tagged NHS Highland and Treatments and Medicines about the best way to approach potential cases, saying: “Please consider Legionella in the differential for hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP) until further notice”.
It noted that: “Measures have been put in place to reduce this risk, but please consider Legionella in the differential for hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP) until further notice”.
Essentially, that encourages clinicians at work in Raigmore to consider whether or not Legionnaires plays any part in symptoms related to pneumonia and to test and treat as though it was present.
It said: “A positive result confirms legionella, but a negative result does NOT exclude it. If [there is a] clinical suspicion [of Legionnaires], then treat with antibiotics empirically”.
A spokeswoman for NHS Highland said: “A water sampling programme is in progress and results are expected to be returned over the next two weeks.
“Standard practice for an incident which involves potential water contamination is to test for legionella and pseudomonas. Routine water sampling already takes place and before this incident, were clear”.
Legionnaires' disease is a lung infection that you can get from inhaling droplets of water, usually from things like air conditioning or hot tubs in hotels, hospitals or other public places.
The NHS described it as “uncommon but it can be very serious” and in the UK the case fatality rate for Legionnaires' disease in 2023 was 3.1 per cent, so the overwhelming majority of patients recover with antibiotics.
NHS Highland was invited to comment but did not respond before going to print, see online on our website for the latest.
