Settlements totalling £735,000 have been reached for 121 staff at Basildon Hospital in Essex who were exposed to excessive levels of nitrous oxide. They included 85 midwives. The BBC reports that staff described fatigue, anxiety, headaches and “brain fog”, while an internal hospital report identified serious breaches of the workplace exposure limit.
NHS Resolution, the body that handles claims and compensation on behalf of the NHS in England, confirmed to the BBC that 121 claims had been settled for a combined £735,000. That is the total settlement figure, not the amount awarded to each person. The BBC does not report the individual payment amounts.
The latest reporting concerns the resolution of claims arising from earlier staff exposure. According to the internal report cited by the BBC, some employees were exposed between 2021 and 2023 to gas concentrations reaching 30 times the legal occupational exposure limit. The BBC also reports that staff were not told for 16 months about the results of tests commissioned by the NHS trust running the hospital, which showed that safety thresholds had been exceeded.
Apology and changes on the maternity ward
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust — the NHS organisation that runs the hospital — has apologised to staff and acknowledged that it should have acted sooner. According to the BBC, the settlements followed the trust’s admission that staff had been exposed to dangerously high gas concentrations.
The trust said it had improved oversight of medical gas monitoring and installed gas extraction equipment on the maternity ward. It also said that Entonox is now safe for women in labour. That assurance comes from the trust; the settlements concern historical staff exposure and do not establish a current risk to patients.
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM), the professional body and trade union for midwives, described the case as the largest group legal action brought by midwives in the UK. NHS Resolution used more cautious wording, saying it was not aware of a larger group of such claims. Not every case has been concluded: the RCM says one claim remains unresolved.
The case also has wider implications for workplace safety across the NHS. The RCM said it had written to all NHS trusts in England about the risks and had worked with the Health and Safety Executive, Britain’s workplace health and safety regulator, to update and improve guidance on the use of Entonox.
