Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust (the Trust) pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 on 20 April 2018 at Bristol Crown Court. The Trust was fined £300,000 and ordered to pay costs of £37,451.78 after a 68-year old patient died from Legionnaires’ disease following exposure to Legionella bacteria in the water system at Bath’s Royal United Hospital (the Hospital).

Following the patient’s death, an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the Trust had failed to implement the necessary precautions to minimise the risk of patients being exposed to Legionella bacteria.

The HSE investigation found that there was a separate water system for the annex to the William Budd Ward, where the patient was located, to that of the main wards of the Hospital. This meant that required temperature checks and tests for Legionella bacteria had not been undertaken; which had not been identified by the Trust since the building of the annex. The HSE undertook tests and discovered a strain of Legionella bacteria in water samples taken from the water system of the annex.

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