Legionnaires' disease risk at Kettering General Hospital sees Crazy Hats charity water feature switched off to avoid spread

The founder of a breast cancer charity has been left ‘upset’ after a water feature chosen as the centrepiece of a hospital courtyard garden was switched off without her knowledge.

Crazy Hats Breast Cancer Appeal funded a £390,000 outdoor space for use by patients and staff at the Treatment Centre at Kettering General Hospital (KGH) which finally opened in December 2023.

But the granite water feature, carved with the word ‘hope’, was discovered to be switched off – a decision made by KGH citing the risk of Legionnaire’s Disease.

Glennis Hooper, Crazy Hats founder, said: “I felt hurt and upset. They’ve got some explaining to do. Why didn’t anyone tell me? I appreciate it could be a health risk but when they agreed the plans they should have done the checks then.”

The water feature sits in the middle of the refurbished courtyard garden that was designed as a place for employees and visitors to the centre seeking peace and quiet. The stone centrepiece was spotted in a garden centre by Marilyn Clapham, Glennis right-hand woman at Crazy Hats, as she battled cancer.

Glennis said: “Water is a very soothing element. Marilyn chose that for the charity. She said ‘we have to have that for the garden’. It was her lasting legacy. She saw the word ‘hope’ and said that she hoped that no-one would have to go through what she had been through. To have the water feature standing there doing nothing defeats the object. It’s disloyal to the people who raised the money and paid for it.”

Glennis had been alerted to the water being switched off by visitors to KGH asking her why it wasn’t working. After she popped over to see for herself, she says it was a hospital Facebook post that ‘raised’ her ‘hackles’. The ‘hope’ water feature was being used as the backdrop to a photo.

When she contacted the hospital, she was told there could be a risk of the potentially deadly legionella bacteria being sprayed into the air in the garden.

She said: “It’s so disrespectful. It raised my hackles – it’s the public that paid for it. They (KGH) never questioned the water feature. They should have told us at the time and we would have done something different.”

Kettering General Hospital’s Chief Executive, Deborah Needham, said: “The granite ‘hope’ inscribed statue and water feature was designed as a centre piece in the garden adjacent to the beautiful new waiting area funded by the Crazy Hats Appeal charity.

“There is no problem with the granite statue itself but we have received advice from an external authorising engineer that having such a water feature within the boulder statue, in an area where vulnerable patients will sit, has a potential, but very small, risk of putting legionella bacteria into the atmosphere through the water spray.

“Therefore we have not put the water feature on and will be seeking another solution, to be discussed with the Crazy Hats team, which will be similarly attractive way of highlighting the statue, but without any potential risk to patients.”