A HEALTH worker has won £280,000 compensation from York Hospital after a seven-year fight over a potentially fatal allergy to everyday objects.

Fiona Moore, 37, blames the latex gloves she had to wear during her work in the dermatology department for causing her current medical condition, which has ruined her life.

She cannot go near many different everyday items, including car tyres, or wear certain types of clothes in case she goes into a potentially fatal form of shock because she suffers from latex allergy. She even had to stay away from her son’s birthday celebrations to avoid party balloons.

As her condition developed and she could no longer wear the latex gloves, management dismissed her from her post in the dermatology department on the ground that she could not carry out her job properly. She sued them for unfair dismissal and won.

“What they should have done is give me an environment in which I would be safe at work,” she said. “I was told that wasn’t cost-effective. I wasn’t just a patient in the department, I worked there.

“Before I had the allergy, I just led a normal life like everyone else,” she said. “I adored my work. The allergy changed me as a person. I became anxious because I was frightened of going outside because even car tyres contain latex. If I have a puncture I wouldn’t be able to change tyres.”

Mrs Moore, formerly of Bishopthorpe and Acomb and now living in Newcastle, started in the dermatology department in the late 1990s. In 2002, she was told she would have to leave and began her long fight to get justice. Now, she cannot find work even in an office because rubber bands contain latex.

“I am classed as disabled,” she said. “No one will employ me in a safe working environment. It is a life-changing allergy. I want to make people aware how potentially life-threatening latex allergy can be so that other people take this into account.”

She added that stress can aggravate the condition, and she found the working environment at York Hospital very stressful after she told her employers about her condition. A York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust spokesperson said: “We recognise that at the time this case first came to light in 1999 our processes for managing latex allergies were not consistently of the standard they should have been. As a result of this we put in place a robust policy for supporting staff and patients with latex allergies which complies with the relevant legislation and meets our responsibilities as an employer.

“All new starters are given an occupational health check before they start work so that these issues can be picked up and managed within the workplace.

“Risk assessments are carried out and we have a range of control measures that can be put in place to protect individuals who have this allergy, for example, providing latex-free alternatives or creating barriers to avoid direct contact with latex.”

Items that spell danger include:

• Rubber bands
• Hot water bottles
• Bananas
• Mangos
• Clothes such as underwear with latex
• Balloons
• Carpet underlay
• Car tyres
• The air, if close to items such as balloons that have a powdery surface containing latex.