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Attention: health & industrial correspondents, Health and safety journals

Latex deal could end fatal allergy in NHS

The NHS and latex glove manufacturers are today (Tuesday) expected to reach an agreement that could end the use of cheap latex gloves, which can trigger life-threatening allergic reactions among health service workers. Manufacturers could also agree to stop distributing the cheap gloves in the UK, at today’s TUC summit with healthcare unions and latex-allergy sufferers.

Twelve hundred workers (including surgeons, nurses, dental technicians and radiographers) develop latex allergies every year, usually by working regularly with latex, and their reactions can range from asthma and dermatitis to potentially fatal anaphylactic shock. The TUC estimates that latex allergy costs UK employers, mostly the NHS, over £120 million a year.

At the TUC summit at Congress House, manufacturers will be urged to distribute only the safer low-protein, powder-free gloves, and NHS Trusts will be urged to refuse to buy the cheaper, but more dangerous alternatives. The TUC will ask health ministers to support any agreement by initiating a major latex education programme throughout the NHS.

TUC General Councillor Maureen Rooney, a member of the Health and Safety Commission, said:

'NHS employers have an opportunity to show leadership in fighting against this destructive allergy, in partnership with the glove manufacturers, unions and sufferers. A deal today could remove the fastest growing cause of asthma amongst NHS staff and the threat of other serious reactions to cheap latex. NHS staff must be able to do their job in a safe working environment.'

Latex Allergy Support Group chair Aleks Kinay, who is herself allergic to latex, said:

'This is the first step to preventing more healthcare staff developing latex allergies and going through immense physical and psychological suffering. No one else should be forced to end their careers due to chronic illness.'

Notes to Editors:

The summit - organised by National Association of Theatre Nurses and Latex Allergy Support Group jointly with the TUC - will hear from Dr Henning Allmers, a German specialist, who has researched the effect of using safer latex gloves (and alternative non-latex gloves for those already allergic), and found that rates of developing allergies have all but disappeared.

Natural rubber latex is used to make the latex gloves that protect against blood-borne infections like hepatitis and HIV. Cheaper latex gloves are often rich in proteins and dusted with powder - a potent cocktail that can trigger allergies like asthma and dermatitis. People allergic to latex can suffer potentially fatal anaphylactic shocks, when their body's defences overreact and effectively shut down their lungs and heart, if they are exposed to even small amounts of latex.

Case studies (Interviews and photo shoots with these and/or other sufferers can be arranged through TUC press office):

Jacqueline Kershaw, a practice nurse from Halifax, has been working in the NHS for over 20 years. 'A colleague and I both noticed that our hands were covered in an itchy red rash. We couldn’t work out what was causing it. Then one evening, when I was in surgery, I put on a pair of gloves. A rash developed on my hands and spread up my arms, then my neck started swelling up. Luckily for me the GP in the room next door gave me medication on the spot.'

Jacqueline was diagnosed with type 1 latex allergy: 'Even leaning over a box of latex gloves gives me rashes on my face and neck. And because latex is in so many products, it affects my everyday life.'

Being diagnosed with latex allergy marked the beginning of the end of Janet’s career as a radiographer. 'I’d been complaining for 10 years about the effects of latex gloves on my hands, and was fobbed off by my supervisor who just told me I had ‘funny skin’.'

Janet went to Occupational Health and was referred to an Asthma Specialist for skin testing. 'I was told by a consultant I had a potentially fatal allergy to latex. Since then I have had to carry adrenaline, antihistamines and an inhaler wherever I go.'

Janet rang her union and was taken off work whilst the department was made safe. She says: 'Despite their efforts, I got back and found latex gloves in the room as well as a latex-equipped resuscitation trolley.' The Society of Radiographers took Janet’s case to court and she was offered a settlement for her pain and suffering out of court last year. 'Latex allergy is frightening, expensive, and a nuisance. But it is also avoidable - latex free gloves don’t cost much more than latex gloves.'

Vicky Harris regularly wore powdered latex gloves as a part-time dental nurse. As a trainee dental hygienist, the added ingredient of stress on a very intensive course brought her allergies to a head. She could feel herself getting run down in the lead up to exams. 'My doctor referred me to a specialist who suspected latex allergy and a blood test confirmed it. It has taken me nearly six years to try and reverse some of the damage done.'

Judith Barnes worked as a Chiropodist In Lancashire. 'I developed type 1 latex allergy through wearing powdered latex gloves at work in the NHS. I switched to vinyl gloves but everyone else continued to use latex gloves, which led to more allergic reactions. I was forced to take ill-health retirement at the age of 34.' Judith sued her employer and after a three year long legal battle her Health Trust admitted liability for causing latex allergy and made the medical environment safer. Judith cannot go swimming or to the gym and she has learned to be vigilant at all times. 'On a hospital visit to a dermatologist who was using powdered latex gloves, I ended up in casualty surrounded by doctors, and was given oxygen, steroids and antihistamines.'

Fiona McKie-Bell worked at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary where she wore latex gloves. She started to experience anaphylactic reactions to latex whilst working, including swelling up of the face, lips and airways, and was eventually forced into medical retirement at the age of 25. The pain and suffering did not stop for Fiona after retiring. She was due to have a wisdom tooth removed under local anaesthetic at a large teaching hospital. Although the dentist knew she was allergic to natural rubber latex (NRL), a syringe with an NRL bung was inadvertently used, and Fiona suffered an anaphylactic reaction. She spent the next few days in the intensive treatment unit, where she had several more anaphylactic reactions. Since then she has been hospitalised 50 times in only eight months. She uses nebulised adrenaline to help her breathing and is virtually housebound.

Forty-year-old Pip Wheatcroft was forced to retire from her position as a Senior I Radiographer at Good Hope Hospital, Sutton Coldfield. She had worked at the hospital for 17 years. With the help of her union (the Society of Radiographers), she was awarded compensation for loss of earnings after a three-year court case. She first developed an allergic reaction to the latex in surgical gloves in 1996. Pip switched to using vinyl gloves but in May 1998 a new floor containing latex was laid in her department. This caused Pip to become highly sensitised to latex and she began to suffer from occupational asthma. During a severe asthma attack, she is in danger of suffering from anaphylactic shock. Pip was suspended from her job because the hospital could not ensure she would not be at risk from latex exposure. "I wasn’t just risking a rash, I was risking my life."

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Ben Hurley on 020 7467 1248 or 07626 317903 (pager) or email bhurley@tuc.org.uk

Other enquiries: Owen Tudor on 020 7467 1325 or 07788 715261 (mobile) or email otudor@tuc.org.uk

Latex Allergy Support Group: Aleks Kinay, Chair, on 07770 698192 or at latexallergyfree@hotmail.com or Ann Clarke on 01723 890001 or at annclarke@clara.co.uk

- website: http://www.lasg.co.uk/

National Association of Theatre Nurses: Lesley Fudge, Latex Advisor on 01423 508079 or at lesley@natn.org.uk

Press release (1,400 words) issued 19 Nov 2002