A woman diagnosed with listeria after eating pre-packed sandwiches in hospital has called for “extra checks” to be made on high-risk foods.

Speaking to Sky’s David Bowden, Tanya Marston says she is conflicted on whether pre-packed sandwiches – which are high-risk foods for listeria – should even be served in hospitals.

Last week, Public Health England said listeria had been discovered in six “seriously ill” patients in hospital – and three of them have since died.

Ms Marston said: “It’s something that needs to be addressed particularly in an environment such as a hospital, where you go in to get better – you don’t expect to die from eating a sandwich.”

Ms Marston had already spent four weeks at William Harvey Hospital in Kent in May for treatment for Crohn’s disease, but on the day she was due to go home her temperature spiked, and she was asked to stay a further night.

“The next day, the temperature spiked so severely that they decided to take blood cultures,” she said.

The 38-year-old was eventually discharged, but had barely been home for 16 hours when she received a “bombshell” call from a consultant.

He confirmed over the phone that she had tested positive for listeria, and must return to hospital immediately.

“I was just traumatised about having to go back to hospital,” she said. “The last thing I wanted to do was go back in.”

After arriving at hospital, Ms Marston was told she would need intravenous antibiotics as her immune system had been deliberately suppressed during her earlier treatment.

She was kept in hospital for another week, and was given up to seven intravenous drips per day.

“They couldn’t risk me having listeria at all because it can be fatal,” she recalled.

Ms Marston says she feels “very, very lucky” that her temperature had increased dramatically enough before she was sent home from her initial stay that she was sent for a blood tests, and was “grateful” to the hospital for acting quickly.

“If that hadn’t happened – I’m in that stage of thinking what could have happened to me, at home, left under those conditions,” she added.

But she noted that both the hospital and the food suppliers had a “duty of care” to uphold in relation to checking food being served to patients.

Ms Marston said she was worried that the name of her hospital had been left out of Public Health England’s (PHE) statement on the outbreak, and she was concerned that spokespersons had maintained the last case of listeria was reported on 15 May.

She said that while she hadn’t eaten the sandwiches since 14 May because of being put on a special diet, the “issue with the sandwiches” hadn’t become apparent at her hospital until 27 May.

PHE says sandwiches and salads were removed on 25 May.

“There are people out there who could potentially still be getting poorly,” she added.

Three people have died in two hospitals in England following a confirmed outbreak of listeria linked to pre-packed sandwiches.

Listeria bacteria can cause listeriosis – a form of food poisoning – and can be found in unpasteurised milk and chilled foods, such as pate, certain cheeses, cold meats and smoked salmon.

It is usually not dangerous for healthy individuals, but for people with pre-existing health conditions and weaker immune systems, the infection can prove more serious.

It is most likely to be found in pregnant women, young babies and the elderly.

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