Charity issues warning over consumption of hospital handwash after deaths of homeless people

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Health

Charity staff working with the capital's homeless have expressed concern at a dangerous new trend, which has resulted in the deaths of at least three rough sleepers after drinking sterilising hand wash stolen from hospitals.

Lewisham hospital in South East London has reported 10 cases of people stealing containers of the Spirigel fluid between March of 2007 and June of this year, further highlighting the problem.

Thames Reach’s Petra Salva, who manages the Outreach Service which looks after homeless in the capital, said: "We've started to get reports of this from rough sleepers and police who have met people with bottles of the gel.

"A lot of it has been anecdotal but it's now on our radar and something that we’re increasingly concerned about.”

An inquest earlier this month heard how homeless Raimindus Cepukaitis, 46, vomited so violently that he tore his oesophagus and had a cardiac arrest after massive internal bleeding. He was four times over the legal alcohol limit for driving.

Mr Cepukaitis, an alcoholic, had been admitted to the hospital in Praed Street, Paddington, on June 6.

A bottle of the gel used by patients and visitors to clean their hands was found in his bed two days later, and medics reported he was drinking gel he had removed from the nurses' station, and appeared drunk in the ward.

He was discharged on June 13, but just four days later died at the hospital after his drinking partner in Paddington Green woke up to find him with blue lips and vomit around his mouth.

Thames Reach now want Spirigel's manufacturers to clearly label the bottles with both text and images highlighting the hazardous nature of the gel, and hospitals to make it more difficult to steal.

Petra continued: "Thames Reach feel the onus is now on the makers of these gels to clearly label how poisonous these products are, while removing, or at least concealing, the reference to alcohol content.
"We would also like to see hospitals making the product much more difficult to actually steal, by making it harder to remove and more secure”

Petra added: “At the moment there is no way of being able to tell where a particular bottle of the gel has been stolen from, as they are not marked. We would like to see hospitals adding ‘property of’ labelling as well.”

Spirigel, which has an ethyl alcohol content of 70%, is a colourless liquid introduced across the UK in an attempt to stop the rise of super-bugs such as MRSA, in health and care institutions.

Drinkers have targeted the substance as it is found in most wards in hospitals across the UK.

In August, Southwark Coroner Court heard how two homeless men died after drinking the disinfectant.

Thomas Sajdak, 29, was found dead in Streatham, South London, in February, while his friend Oleh Wowczyshyn, 29, collapsed and died four days later after complaining of severe stomach pains.

Detective Constable Nainesh Desai confirmed at their inquest that the deaths were caused by drinking "hospital fluids”.

Thames Reach has received the news that another man was found dead on the street in August, with the death believed to be as a result of the man consuming the hand wash.