Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital is reviewing whether staff who handled chemotherapy were adequately protected after WorkSafe Victoria found gloves in use that were not tested or approved for cytotoxic agents, a lapse some clinicians say may have stretched across ten years in parts of the hospital.
WorkSafe notified the hospital on 26 August that sterile gloves supplied for clinical tasks did not meet the standard required for handling drugs such as chemotherapy, according to reporting by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The hospital replaced the gloves immediately and hired an independent body to test the old stock and assess possible staff exposure.
Split standards inside one campus
Some departments at the Royal Children’s Hospital stopped using the gloves about a decade ago, while others continued until the regulator’s intervention, clinicians told the ABC. That inconsistency has raised questions about how procurement and infection-control policies diverged within a single tertiary paediatric centre.
Cytotoxic drugs require gloves rated to resist permeation by hazardous chemicals. Using general sterile gloves does not guarantee that barrier, which is why WorkSafe’s alert carried weight even though no patient harm has been publicly linked to the equipment change.
Statewide ripple through HealthShare Victoria
HealthShare Victoria, which buys supplies for the public health system, is checking whether other hospitals used the same gloves for chemotherapy preparation or administration. A Victorian Health Department spokesperson said officials are working with HealthShare to determine whether the issue extends beyond the Royal Children’s Hospital and what guidance other services may need.
Hospital leaders told staff the review will examine historical use patterns and any monitoring data for workers who mixed or delivered chemotherapy. Results are not yet public, and the hospital has not said how many employees may require follow-up assessment.
What families and clinicians are watching
Parents of children on cancer wards rely on strict handling protocols; the glove disclosure does not change current treatment plans but has unsettled staff who worry about long-term occupational exposure. Union representatives at other Victorian hospitals are asking for rapid confirmation that cytotoxic-rated gloves are in place in pharmacies and day oncology units.
The episode also highlights uneven enforcement of chemical-handling rules across Australia’s state health systems. With HealthShare Victoria’s audit still under way, policymakers in Canberra and Melbourne may face questions about whether national procurement lists should mandate cytotoxic certification for any glove used near oncology drugs, not only at the hospital that triggered the alert.