A Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) inspection at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in  Co Louth has highlighted hygiene issues, including the risk of contracting Legionnaires' Disease.

Legionnaires' disease is a potentially fatal condition related to pneumonia that is found in water supplies and in soil.

It is particularly dangerous for vulnerable people like the elderly, or the sick.

The report highlights a 'significant' concern that the bacteria that causes the disease persists in the hospital water supply, despite investment to address the problem.

HIQA says the hospital needs to re-evaluate and improve its management of the risks of contracting Legionnaires'.

Meanwhile, another inspection at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin found it had persistently identified significantly high levels of the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' from routine sampling of water outlets in a number of clinical areas.

The Authority says Beaumont hospital needs to adopt a more systematic approach to the ongoing assessment of its water supply system, in line with national guidelines.

Handwashing concerns

Seperately, management at Our Lady of Lourde's hospital in Drogheda have been told they need to improve on their compliance with Health Service Executive (HSE) handwashing guidelines.

HIQA described their handwashing practices as "significantly below" HSE guidelines in 2014.

Staff at Beaumont have also been chastised for their insufficient handwashing.

HIQA says the hospital has failed to achieve minimum compliance targets between late 2011 to mid 2014.

However, the hospital did achieve the HSE’s 90% target during the October/ November 2014 period.