Three babies and a fourth patient received donor tissue from a patient who had brain cancer, Queensland health authorities have revealed.

Queensland’s chief health officer, Jeannette Young, said this on Friday while announcing a review into the state’s trouble-plagued heart valve bank.

While admitting it was a terrible mistake, Young said the tissue was “potentially” contaminated only because the donor had cancer.

“The risk to any of those four individuals is incredibly low of there being any adverse outcome from having that tissue grafted,” she said.

Young said all four families had been notified and their health would be monitored.

But she stressed that because they had heart tissue transplants they would have had regular check-ups.

The donor had gliosarcoma, a malignant form of brain cancer. All four patients – three babies under 12 months and a young adult – received heart-valve tissue.

Queensland Health has done a preliminary review, but an independent review will be conducted to find out how it happened and whether it was an isolated case. A report is due before the end of the year.

Queensland Health could not rule out other patients had been given contaminated tissue, although Young stressed it was “very unlikely”.

“This was one, single event, that has impacted on four people’s lives,” she said. “There is not any risk because we’ve gone and looked further, to other people.”

The valve bank has been closed since January. Two staff have been suspended on full pay and doctors have had to source tissue from donors interstate.

The closure was due to an apparently unrelated issue over mismanagement at the facility, with the Crime and Corruption Commission and Metro South Health both looking into the matter.

The Queensland health minister, Steven Miles, was not at the press conference on Friday but told state parliament last month that no donors would be affected by the closure.

“All tissue banks in Australia work collaboratively depending on need, and it is common to source tissue from interstate,” he said.

Young said Miles did not attend the press conference because the issue was an internal one, but the Liberal National party opposition health spokeswoman, Ros Bates, accused the minister of hiding from the scandal.

“Issues at the tissue bank were raised by the LNP just a few weeks ago and dismissed by Steven Miles in the parliament,” she said.

“Clearly that was not correct and he now has serious questions to answer.”