Hospital facing charge over Legionnaires’ disease case

The NHS trust which manages the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, is being accused of not protecting its patients and visitors from Legionnaires’ disease. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is prosecuting the trust under the Health and Safety at work Act 1974. A representative for the trust appeared at Redhill Magistrates’ Court on January 20 and the case has now been sent to crown court. Mrs. Joan Rayment is known to have contracted Legionnaires’ disease while a patient of the hospital in 2011. She subsequently died.

While HSE is doing its job in bringing this case, there is some irony because under the recent HSE Legionella control guidelines, the hospital would not, have been required to carry out testing of its water system, and further would have been guided not to use rapid testing for Legionella contamination, which might have informed immediate action. Lab testing takes 10-14 days to return a result and therefore does not prompt timely action, allowing patients to be exposed for weeks.