Queensland Health starts investigation into 2011 Legionaire's death at Wesley Hospital Queensland Health Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young announces the investigation into the Legionaire's disease outbreak at The Wesley Hospital. AS QUEENSLAND Health begins an investigation into a Legionnaire's disease death from 2011, the Wesley Hospital's management has admitted it made an "error" in not publicly announcing the death in the aftermath of the most recent fatal outbreak. Chief Health Officer Dr Jeannette Young yesterday said her investigation into the handling of the incident that killed 66-year-old John Pearson and left a 46-year-old woman in intensive care would probe the death of an elderly man at the Wesley in October 2011. At the time, Queensland Health, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland and the hospital's infection control committee all considered the case "sporadic" and the source of the legionella was never uncovered. Dr Young and her team will now work to determine whether any link exists between the 2011 case and the latest outbreak. "We won't be able to say what caused it because we won't have any environmental samples," she said. But we can hypothesise in terms of looking at the genome of the isolate that was collected then and which we still have and assess it against the genome of the isolates we have today from the environment in the Wesley. The hospital came under fire yesterday for not making the case public and releasing information to the media in the wake of the most recent situation. UnitingCare Health executive director Richard Royle yesterday insisted there had been "absolutely no cover-up," but admitted he did not "forget" about the 2011 case. Mr Royle said the failure to raise the issue was an "error on (his) behalf," but stressed that he did not see a link between the other cases and that the hospital had been "fully complaint" with all legislation. Two pipes with "dead ends" have been tested and removed, but it remains "very unclear" where the legionella bacteria originated. Mr Royle said plumbing in the four-year-old east wing had been "signed off by independent certifiers as meeting all regulatory requirements." Dr Young is also evaluating existing guidelines, protocols and legislation governing water testing requirements and notification procedures and has implemented interim guidelines until her report is handed down at the end of September. She said she had written to the Federal Government to discuss the issue of water testing and treatment in nursing homes. Home hot water systems are also within the scope of the investigation and whether homeowners who have turned their systems down below 50C against advice have put themselves at risk. Further test results are being awaited for an elderly man whose urine recently tested positive to Legionnaire's disease, but had not shown any symptoms. A later blood test failed to confirm the disease. The state's public and private hospitals have all either completed or begun water testing, with some results indicating the presence of legionella in other hospitals. But Dr Young said it was expected given the "ubiquitous" nature of the bacteria. She said her investigation had so far revealed that most hospitals did not "routinely" undertake legionella monitoring.