NHS Staff Suspended Over Facebook 'Lying Down Game' Pictures

by candice.tsuei | September 10, 2009 at 10:16 am

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Seven hospital staff in Swindon, UK have been suspended after posting online pictures of themselves participating in the Facebook "lying down game" - a recent Internet craze in which people photograph themselves face down in odd places while on duty.

A hospital official said: "Disciplinary hearings are yet to take place and we cannot predict the outcome."

The source said: "It's a right mess. It's been a nightmare week for them. It reflects badly on the department. “It was just some nurses and doctors on nights having fun, but photos got onto Facebook and management found out. Someone in the department leaked the group, but no-one knows who."

The stunt happened on August 14 and 15. More than 18 staff, including doctors and nurses from the hospital's accident and emergency department and acute assessment unit, were photographed on resuscitation trolleys, ward floors, and the air ambulance helipad during a night shift.

These images, originally posted under the title Secret Swindon Emergency Department Group on Facebook, have now been removed. Seven staff members were suspended on full pay for "breaching health and safety and infection control regulations" after managers at the Great Western Hospital were alerted of the incident.

Alf Troughton, medical director for Great Western Hospital NHS Trust, said that patient care had not been affected. “This did not involve patients and we are satisfied that at no time was patient care compromised.”

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