Fine for Legionnaires Health and Safety Case

NHS fined £24,000 for Legionnaires health case.

A 64-year-old woman hospitalized in 2008 contracted Legionnaires Disease after being treated at Hartwoodhill Hospital.  She was originally treated for pneumonia and sepsis at Wishaw General.  Unfortunately, she was infected with a serious disease.  This has led to a fine of £24,000. The HSE conducted health and safety audits to determine what happened at Hartwoodhill Hospital where she contracted the disease.

The HSE revealed the results of their workstation risk assessments, stating there were three sources of the bacteria in the hospital.  All three sources were in the water system.  Of those three, two were in the shower the patient used each day.  The shower strain matched the woman’s illness.

The HSE stated the facility did not carry out their own risk assessments.  They did not control the water system or the areas where water can be found.  It is due to a lack of control that the bacterium was found in the hospital and subsequently infected a patient.

Members of the public were endangered, especially any patient that had to rely on the hospital for their care because anyone in that hospital could have contracted the disease.  For one patient, it meant surgery and feeling ill for quite a while.  The events that took place could have been avoided had the hospital taken proper care with their facility.  The bacterium strain was Legionella pheumophillia.  There are other strains of the disease that exist, but they were not found at the hospital.