NHS Trust fined for safety issue (From Swindon Advertiser)

NHS Trust fined for safety issue

9:07am Thursday 6th July 2006 in News By Kevin Burchall

THE trust which runs Great Western Hospital has been fined after a nurse with an allergy to latex was given gloves made of the material to wear.

Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust has been fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 in costs after admitting it failed to comply with the Health And Safety At Work Act.

The trust admitted failing to properly assess the risk to a member of staff of wearing latex gloves between February 14, 2003 and October 8, 2004.

Jonathan Cooper, prosecuting on behalf of the Health And Safety Executive told Swindon Magistrates' Court yesterday that the problem arose after nurse Wendy Roberts was diagnosed with Type 1 latex sensitisation.

In extreme cases, Type 1 latex sensitisation can lead to instances of anaphylactic shock and possible death, although Mrs Roberts' allergy was not diagnosed as being that severe.

"Mrs Roberts was at the time, in November 2003, employed as a staff nurse on the nursing bank," Mr Cooper said.

"She had a previous history of eczema, hay fever and as a child had asthma and these conditions are indicative of a sensitisation to latex.

"During her training Mrs Roberts did have episodes of eczema and noticed dryness and cracks of her skin, particularly when she was using latex gloves. These incidences were recorded in her occupational health records, which noted that the trust should order low allergy gloves for her."

The court heard how Mrs Roberts' allergy completely cleared up when she was on maternity leave between January 1999 and July 2000.

She returned to work part-time and, when filling out a medical questionnaire, didn't record any allergies as her initial latex allergy had cleared up while she was away from work.

"In April 2003 Mrs Roberts visited her dentist and suffered a severe reaction to the latex gloves worn by the dentist,"said Mr Cooper.

"And she suffered a similar reaction when coming into contact with balloons at a children's party soon after.

"She returned to work in August 2003, but this time did not have to fill out a medical questionnaire.

"And, upon going back to work, started to have problems again.

"She was wearing latex gloves as provided by the trust and she realised the gloves were causing her problems so she went to see the occupational health therapist."

But David Wood, defending, said the trust had a latex safety policy in 1998, which was reviewed and reissued in 2003, and that employees returning to work from an absence were given a health check by the trust's occupational health department.

A statement issued by Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust said: "Although we did have an appropriate policy in place at the time it was not followed through adequately.

"This was an isolated incident which occurred three years ago and centres on the single issue of failing to properly assess the risk to a member of staff of wearing gloves made of latex, to which she was sensitive.

"Although the side effects of itching hands and dry skin were not serious, we were greatly concerned by the case and immediately took steps to prevent a re-occurrence.

"With the measures we now have in place, this type of incident should not happen again."