Food Hygiene issues in Scotland

Hospital Fails to Meet Food Health Standards

A hospital is supposed to be a place where people go to get better, not get sick.  

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary is the largest hospital in NHS Grampian, with a catchment area which includes around 600,000 people.  It is also the primary emergency hospital for the offshore industries.  

With the health and wellbeing of such a large number of people in their hands, we would assume that the standards of cleanliness and food hygiene at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary would be second to none.  This is the standard expected of a modern health facility in this country. 

It therefore came as a surprise to us when it was revealed that Aberdeen City Council health inspectors stopping cold food preparation at the hospital for six months due to hygiene failures.  They found staff touching their noses and mouths without changing gloves or washing their hands.  They also found out of date meat and expressed concern that raw and cooked food were being stored together.  

This lack of enforcement of food hygiene standards has been shown to cause people to fall ill in the past.  We have acted for a number of people who fell ill after consuming food prepared in unhygienic conditions.  In the past we have been successful with claims against Gleneagles Hotel, when the hotel failed to control an outbreak of norovirus. 

We are currently pursuing claims against Lanarkshire bakery JB Christie, due to an outbreak of Hepatitis A being linked to products originating from the baker.  Hepatitis A (Hep A) is caused by contact with human waste and spread by poor hand washing hygiene.  The symptoms can be serious such as flu-like illness with loss of appetite, fever and abdominal pains and many of our clients have been admitted to hospital. It is totally unacceptable that going to your local baker for your lunch or a cream cake could land you in hospital due to poor hygiene!

Food hygiene is of the highest importance.  When it is ignored people get ill.  If this happens the victims are entitled to seek compensation.  In terms of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, the potentially devastating effects of unhygienic food in a hospital full of ill, elderly or otherwise vulnerable people are unthinkable.

Blog by Iain Corbett, Aberdeen Lawyer