GOVERNMENT inspectors visited to Basildon Hospital last week after midwives were exposed to high levels of nitrous oxide.

Staff at Basildon Hospital’s maternity unit were exposed to almost 30 times the legal workplace exposure limit - 100 parts per million - for nitrous oxide, documents revealed earlier this year.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspected the hospital after the nitrous oxide "incident" was declared to the government agency by the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (MSE).

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“Hopefully lessons have been learnt and we can move forward and ensure that the problems are fixed and that the unit is now completely safe,” independent Basildon councillor Kerry Smith said.

“Basildon residents and workers deserve the best possible maternity unit we can get and that means we need one that can correctly manage Entonox levels.”

New digital equipment has since been installed in Basildon hospital’s maternity ward to give “real-time” readings of nitrous oxide levels.

NHS England’s engineering teams advised hospital bosses make the switch to using digital readings, said to have “proved reliable at another trust”.

Staff have been trained how to use the new equipment and is now being tested “thoroughly in a range of scenarios”, hospital documents reveal.

Bosses at Basildon Hospital had been aware of high levels of Entonox – nitrous oxide used as pain relief during labour – in the ward since the summer of 2021.

But they only told staff in October last year when units to help clean the air were delivered to the hospital.

Three inspectors and an observer from the HSE attended the hospital on February 27 to meet the trust's health and safety team and a range of colleagues within maternity services.

The inspectors also met with key leaders within the organisation such as the chief medical officer, managing director for care group 5, senior director for estates and facilities, and the head of midwifery for Basildon.

The trust is awaiting the formal written feedback from the inspection.

A spokesman for Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust said: “We made the difficult decision to suspend the use of gas and air in the maternity suite at Basildon Hospital to protect our staff who are working on the labour ward for extended periods of time.

"We note the latest NHS guidance and are following all the correct procedures. We hope to have a resolution to this issue as soon as possible.”