A potentially dangerous bacteria was found in 459 water outlets in Belfast’s new maternity hospital, MLAs have been told.
The figure was revealed by DUP MLA Diane Dodds as she launched a motion calling for a full independent inquiry into delays to the completion of the new maternity and children’s hospital projects in the city.
It was revealed earlier this year that the maternity hospital opening was facing a new delay after high levels of the bacteria pseudomonas were found in water systems.
The hospital had been expected to open next year when the Belfast Trust took possession of the new building in March.
However, during testing of its water systems, high levels of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PsA) were discovered, leading the trust to say the project is facing a significant new delay.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is found widely in soil and stagnant water.
It does not usually cause illness in healthy people but can pose a serious threat to people with weak immune systems.
Speaking at the Northern Ireland Assembly, Mrs Dodds said the increases in costs for the new maternity and children’s hospitals were “astronomical” and were putting “intolerable pressure” on the health budget.
Referring to the maternity hospital, she said: “Shortly after the (Belfast) trust took charge of the building, pseudomonas was confirmed in a significant number of water outlets, rendering the hospital unsafe and requiring significant reparative work.
“Indeed an answer to a written question I received just today indicates that this is in fact 459 different water outlets and that is 36% of the total water outlets in the building.”
Mrs Dodds said she had received further information from Health Minister Mike Nesbitt that the trust’s water safety team was not involved in the handover of the building from the contractor in March.
She said: “A full independent inquiry should take place, outwith the Belfast Trust and those who participated or acted in a professional advisory capacity in the decision making.”
The MLA said she also wanted to know the extent of the risk assessment carried out by the trust before the handover of the building.
She said: “Northern Ireland cannot afford losses on this scale.
“I do think that those who made these decisions around the handover of the contract and the decision to proceed need to be held accountable.
“It is long past time that things did change.”
Addressing the minister, she added: “You have the opportunity to do that through a full robust inquiry into what happened so we do not repeat continuously the mistakes of the past.”
The new maternity hospital is already several years overdue and is well over budget.
A Northern Ireland Audit Office report earlier this year said the hospital was originally expected to be completed by the end of 2015.
Three babies died during a previous outbreak of the bacteria at Belfast’s Royal Jubilee Maternity Hospital in 2012.
