An NHS nurse who had to give up her career after developing an allergy to
latex gloves was awarded unspecified damages in December last year in an
out-of-court settlement.
Rosemary Newton worked as a fertility specialist in the assisted conception
unit of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
She developed an allergy to latex after using up to 15 pairs of the gloves a
day.
Newton blamed the trust for failing to carry out a proper risk assessment on
the issue.
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The hospital has since overhauled its procedures, including setting up a
glove working group, banning the use of powdered gloves – which are blamed for
causing such allergies – setting up a policy to better manage latex allergy and
running latex awareness days.
A report by the TUC in August last year estimated some 100,000 NHS staff
could be at risk and trusts were failing to do enough to provide alternatives.
