05 April 2012

Health Minister To Question Belfast Trust Over Pseudomonas Outbreak

Northern Ireland's Health Minister, Edwin Poots, is to question the Chief Executive and Chair of the Belfast Trust in a fallout after a pseudomonas outbreak claimed the lives of four babies.

The Trust is being criticised over how it reacted to the outbreak with some claiming that there was a lack of communication between Trust officials.

The outbreak of a dangerous bacterium called pseudomonas aeruginosa was linked to the deaths of the four babies. The first baby died from the infection in December while another died on January 6, 2012, with the third death coming a week later. The fourth death was confirmed a few weeks after that.

The killer infection was traced to taps in The Royal Maternity Hospital,were three of the babies died.

The Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) is investigating the four deaths at the hospitals in Belfast and Londonderry.

It said the Belfast Health Trust should have declared the outbreak sooner, and criticised a lack of communication between health officials.

Mr Poots told the BBC on Wednesday: "I think the Belfast Trust has answers to give, and I will be challenging them on these issues.

"I think that it's vitally important that whenever letters go from chief medical officers, they're taken seriously and they're responded to in a timely and appropriate fashion."