Brighton hospital trust pleads guilty to legionella charge

The main hospital trust in Brighton and Hove pleaded guilty to failing to protect patients and staff from deadly legionella bacteria before a crown court judge today (Monday 30 March).

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton admitted the health and safety breach at Hove Crown Court.

The case was brought by the Health and Safety Executive after a patient, 78-year-old Joan Rayment, died in November 2011.

She was found to have the waterborne legionella bacteria, which causes legionnaire’s disease, in her system.

Judge Paul Tain adjourned the case until Monday 18 May when the trust is due to be sentenced.

Trust chief executive Matthew Kershaw said: “In 2011 unacceptably high levels of legionella bacteria were found in water samples taken from one of the oldest parts of the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

“And failings in our water management systems and processes resulted in inadequate corrective actions being undertaken as quickly as they should have been.

“As soon as these failings came to light we took prompt and decisive action to eliminate the bacteria from the affected showers and these showers were taken out of use until we were absolutely sure there was no further risk of infection.

“We also undertook a full and thorough internal investigation and a detailed review of legionella management across the whole trust which resulted in capital works to the value of £1.7 million, an extensive training programme for staff and a detailed programme of improvement to ensure all our systems and processes for the regular sampling and testing of water and the tracking of results were fit for purpose.

“These systems and processes have been tested on multiple occasions over the last four years and found to be robust and effective.”