00:01Staff here at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne including in the cancer ward were given a particular type of
00:09gloves for when they were preparing and administering drugs like chemotherapy.
00:14Earlier this year a medical worker started asking questions about these gloves and whether they protected staff from exposure to
00:23the hazardous drugs.
00:24That prompted WorkSafe Victoria to tell the hospital in August there were concerns about these gloves.
00:31The hospital then conducted a review and realised these gloves had not been tested as to whether or not they
00:39protected staff from exposure to chemotherapy.
00:41They replaced the gloves at the time and launched an investigation.
00:46But the ABC can reveal parts of the hospital knew there was an issue with these gloves as far back
00:53as 10 years ago.
00:54That's when international standards changed around gloves and handling drugs like chemotherapy.
01:01Staff have been distressed to learn about this. Some of them are concerned they may have been exposed to hazardous
01:08drugs like chemotherapy over the past 10 years.
01:12The hospital has since launched an investigation into why some areas of the hospital changed the gloves 10 years ago
01:19and not others.
01:20They've also hired an independent organisation to test the safety of these gloves and investigate whether staff have been exposed
01:30to chemotherapy.
01:31Since this issue came to light, the Victorian Health Department has confirmed it's investigating whether these gloves are in use
01:38in any other hospital in Victoria, particularly around handling chemotherapy.
01:43The Health Department is also considering whether it needs to put out advice about these gloves.
01:48In her 입 Higherăn reflexes.
01:50Oh, yes, I am sorry.
