Nurse sues NHS for lack of proper PPE

A nurse who nearly lost her life to Covid-19 is suing the NHS for negligence, claiming she was not provided with adequate personal protective equipment (PPE).

Rebecca Firth, 42, spent 21 days in intensive care and was on a ventilator for nearly a month after experiencing three cardiac arrests, sepsis, and multiple organ failure due to the virus. When she was finally discharged from the hospital, she was so weakened that she had to use a wheelchair.

Ms. Firth is seeking damages from Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, asserting that she contracted the virus while treating patients at Dewsbury and District Hospital in March 2020, just as the pandemic was beginning. She alleges the trust was negligent, failing to ensure a safe working environment and providing her with proper PPE, reportedly giving her only a paper mask.

Her legal team claims the trust did not inform her that she should have been shielding at home until it was too late. They argue that she contracted Covid-19 at a time when she had repeatedly requested to be shielded due to her health concerns.

Initially filing her claim in a local county court for £50,000, her case has now moved to the Royal Courts of Justice in London, where more complex and high-stakes cases are handled.

The Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust is disputing Ms. Firth’s claims, arguing that she returned to work after isolating for two weeks at home with her daughter, who had contracted Covid-19 at school. They also deny failing to provide adequate PPE.

Ms. Firth contends that her requests to shield were ignored, and on April 1 and 2, she worked two shifts in Ward 11, where two patients had been transferred from another hospital treating Covid patients. Although these patients had not been tested for Covid, it was assumed they were negative.

On April 5, Ms. Firth began to experience symptoms of Covid-19, and both patients later tested positive for the virus.

The trust has denied her allegations, asserting that the standards for her claim should reflect the medical knowledge available at the time of her employment. They also emphasize that inherent risks exist in nursing that cannot be eliminated even with reasonable care and state that Ms. Firth did not disclose detailed medical history, which could have informed her employer about her vulnerabilities.