QUESTIONS are being asked after half the water outlets in Worcestershire’s new oncology centre were found to contain an antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Water outlets in the £22.5 million centre at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, which opened to patients in January, tested positive for pseudomonas, which can cause severe infections.

A meeting of the board of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust on Thursday, July 23 heard concerns had been raised that the bacteria – which can also live in soil or on the skin – had not been found sooner.

Board member Lynne Todd said the problem had been put down to design faults in the building and patients stood very little chance of infection. She added measures were being put in place to reduce the risk as much as possible including installing water filters across the centre.

“There is further work to do to address water temperature,” she said.

“Accountability was firmly placed on the PFI (Private Finance Initiative) provider.”

Since the discovery the trust, which runs the Royal as well as Kidderminster Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital, has made it mandatory for any new structure built in the future to be fully examined by infection control experts before it can be opened to patients.

Although infection by pseudomonas is relatively rare, it is more likely among people with weakened immune systems.

According to Cancer Research UK patients with the disease are more vulnerable to infection as both the condition itself and treatments can weaken the immune system.

The charity also says chemotherapy can reduce the amount of white blood cells in the body, meaning infections can spread and worsen quicker. The treatment can in some cases also affect the bone marrow, again, increasing the risk of infection.

Although radiotherapy is less likely to affect white blood cells and bone marrow as it is focussed on a specific area of the body, the charity said, it may have an impact, particularly in the targeted area.

No one from the acute trust was available to comment on the risk to patients.

Since the oncology centre opened its doors cancer patients from Worcestershire and their families no longer face long daily trips to Coventry, Cheltenham or Wolverhampton for radiotherapy treatment but instead can stay much closer to their homes.

The state-of-the-art facility was developed in partnership with University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust and was officially opened by Princess Anne in April. It already has three linear accelerators in place able to deliver treatment, with space for two more in the future.

Plans to move a chemotherapy suite, clinics and an acute oncology emergency assessment bay from the Royal to the new centre have also been given the go-ahead, with the move expected to be complete by next spring.