Midwives in Essex awarded £750k payout after exposure to high levels of nitrous oxide

More than 120 midwives and maternity staff in Essex have been awarded almost £750,000 in compensation after being exposed to high levels of nitrous oxide. 

Staff at Basildon University Hospital were exposed between 2021 and 2023 as a result of poor ventilation on the maternity unit and leaking gas lines, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said.

Nitrous oxide is the main component in gas and air, which is widely used for pain relief during labour. Midwives reported experiencing symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, brain fog and anxiety.

Thompsons Solicitors, working alongside the RCM, took legal action on behalf of more than 120 workers, with a settlement agreed of almost £750,000.

Daniel Poet, partner and disease specialist at Thompsons Solicitors, said the firm was "proud" to have secured compensation for those affected but insisted the hospital staff "should never have been put at risk in the first place".

"Lessons need to be learned," Mr Poet said.

"This is about protecting workers today and for generations to come.

"Staff must be able to trust that their health and safety comes first."

'Simply not acceptable'

An independent review by the Good Governance Institute in 2024 found there had been an "unacceptable delay" by Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust in its response to concerns about dangerous levels of the gas.

The review concluded staff on the maternity unit had been "exposed to unnecessary risk or potential harm" and high levels of nitrous oxide on wards "needed to be treated as a significant risk to health" when concerns were raised in July 2021, but this was not done until October 2022.

RCM chief executive Gill Walton said: "For years, midwives at Basildon were breathing in nitrous oxide at dangerous levels while they cared for women and babies.

"Even once the problem had been discovered, it was more than a year before staff were told.

"That is simply not acceptable and no midwife should ever be treated that way."

Ms Walton insisted gas and air are safe for women to use for pain relief during labour, adding: "This case was about the conditions midwives were working in, not the gas itself."

She also said "too many" midwives across the UK are working in units with "failing ventilation, leaking equipment and outdated facilities".

Ms Walton continued: "This is a landmark settlement for our members and it should make every NHS employer sit up and take notice. If you don't protect your staff - the RCM will hold you to account".

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Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust said it had "learnt lessons" and "improved our oversight of the monitoring of medical gases across the maternity unit at Basildon Hospital".

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said the government was investing more than £270m to "address critical safety risks across the NHS's maternity and neonatal estate".

They added: "Every patient and member of staff should feel safe when in NHS hospitals."

(c) Sky News 2026: Midwives in Essex awarded £750k payout after exposure to high levels of nitrous oxide