Crumlin Children's Hospital apologises to families over scare

Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin has apologised to 18 families who were wrongly identified as being at the centre of a contamination scare over a medical scope.

In a statement, the hospital says contact has been made with seven new patients - separate from the 18 who have now been given the all-clear - to notify them that their children may have caught a bug as a result of a cracked medical scope.

It emerged on Tuesday night that colonoscopes at the hospital had cracks in them but only one contained a bug that can cause infection and cannot be cleared by antibiotics.

The seven families involved will now be sent testing kits and information on the bug in question.