THE risk of infection from legionella bacteria in water at county hospitals is not being controlled adequately, according to a watchdog.

The Health and Safety Executive has ordered Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to take action, following a visit to the main hospitals in Cheltenham and Gloucester during the summer.

The body has issued the trust with five improvement notices.

One of the notices states: "The risk to service users, other members of the public and employees of infection from legionella bacteria present in the hot and cold water system is not being controlled, so far as is reasonably practicable."

The body has demanded the trust remedy the situation by the end of February.

Three cases of legionnaires' disease have been confirmed by the hospitals trust since 2008. One case last year was proved to have been contracted in the hospital, according to the trust.

Another improvement notice said the trust had not provided suitable arrangements for managing violent and aggressive service users, members of the public and employees.

The rest of the criticism centres on the implementation of health and safety legislation.

Last night, the trust said it was taking a positive approach to improving its health and safety processes and had produced an action plan. Chief executive, Dr Frank Harsent, said: "We have been aware of some of the issues raised by the HSE and actions were in place to address them – for example, the testing of water and work to replace pipes to prevent the opportunities for legionella to develop.

"We are taking this as a positive opportunity to refresh and strengthen a number of our other processes.

"I am personally highly committed to the safety of patients, staff and all visitors to our hospitals. From now on, I will be chairing our health and safety committee and will be championing health and safety at board level."

David Smith, director of human resources and organisational development at the trust, said a strategy was approved in January that improves the approach to managing violence and aggression in hospitals.

"We don't have a problem with levels of violence and aggression," he added.

"However, we do need to improve our preparedness for the rare occasions they occur."

This will be improved by clarifying the roles and responsibilities of staff who assist with incidents, improving training and promoting use of the internal emergency number.

The Health and Safety Executive holds these type of inspections every four or five years.

The action plan will be discussed by the trust's board in Cheltenham tomorrow.