Loss of Crown Immunity: general implications for local authorities and district health authorities

In August 1984, 355 patients and 106 staff at the Stanley Royd Hospital in Wakefield were involved in an outbreak of food poisoning as a result of which 19 died. The inquiry following publicised, if not sensationalised the outbreak, found that there had been a complete failure to follow the basic rules of food hygiene practice which was not assisted by the condition and inadequacies of the kitchen, the environment in which the staff had to work or the tools and equipment they had to use. The inquiry also noted that just as it is possible to avoid food poisoning in a bad kitchen it is possible for it to arise from faulty hygiene in the most suitable of premises.