Hospital fails to make immediate report of Legionnaires disease Concerns have been raised about the safety of thousands of hot water systems, amid a legionnaires' outbreak. THE executive director of UnitingCare Health has admitted the Wesley Hospital could have done more to ensure the case of Legionnaires' disease that claimed a life this week had been reported to Queensland Health. The failure of Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology to report the incident to the State Government is at the centre of Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young's inquiry into the outbreak that killed a man, 66, and left a woman, 46, stricken. Water testing regulations and notification requirements are also being reviewed as part of the "exhaustive" investigation ordered by Health Minister Lawrence Springborg. Are there things that we need to change here in Queensland so that we protect our population into the future? Dr Young said. Are there changes we might need to make to the public health act, to the water regulations in this state? Public hospitals across the state have been given until midday next Thursday to provide a progress report on the testing they this week conducted to ensure their water systems were Legionella-free. Dr Young has written to hospitals within the private sector asking them to do the same. The Wesley Private Hospital's infectious disease specialist Dr Paul Bartley gives the background on the legionella bacteria with UnitingCare Health executive director Richard Royle. The Wesley Hospital remains on full ambulance bypass and no new admissions are being accepted, with the roughly 300 patients that remained yesterday forced to wash with bathing packs. More than 850 former patients had been contacted by phone yesterday. Queensland Health was only notified of the initial case of the disease on Wednesday - even though a Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology test returned a positive test result last Monday night, with the hospital notified the following morning and the patient passing away on Sunday. Dr Michael Harrison, managing partner of Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology, acknowledged that an automatic notification system had failed, meaning the Government was not informed immediately as required by law. "On investigation, we found that the initial result of the first patient wasn't notified automatically, as we usually would," he said. Certainly the definitive result was, and I'm still investigating why that didn't happen. UnitingCare Health executive director Richard Royle yesterday conceded that the hospital should have followed up on whether Queensland Health had been notified. A nine-member panel has been put together by the hospital, including experts in microbiology engineering, toxicology, infectious diseases and water supply. Concerns were raised yesterday that domestic systems could be at risk, but both the state and federal levels of the Australian Medical Association have said they are safe, with potting mix presenting a bigger risk.