By Katherine Trail

THE MONIFIETH father of a young burns victim gave evidence at the Scottish Parliament yesterday in a bid to force house builders to install safety bath thermostats.

Alan Masterton, whose three-year-old daughter Nicole died after a bonfire accident, appeared before the petitions committee, together with Dr Kenneth Stewart, a consultant paediatric plastic surgeon from the Royal Children’s Hospital, and Darren Ferguson (17), who sustained a bath water scald injury when he was a baby.

Mr Masterton is a member of the Scottish Burned Children’s Club, which helps in the rehabilitation of children who have sustained burn and scald injuries.

The petition to fit thermal mixing valves as standard in all new and renovated homes in Scotland was handed in to the Scottish Parliament last month and has received the backing of Dundee University rector Lorraine Kelly.

The valve fits under the bath and goes into the plumbing system to use cold water to cool the hot water to a temperature which is hot enough to bathe in but will not scald a child, even if the child came under the full flow of the hot tap.

The petition is a joint one between the Scottish Burned Children’s Club and Darren Ferguson, who has had 59 operations to repair burns to this face and chest.

Yesterday he finally got his chance to challenge the Scottish ministers to look at him and tell him that legislation can wait.

In his address to the petitions committee, Mr Masterton said that the current situation with regards to bath scald injuries cannot be allowed to continue.

He said, “For over a year now we have kept a watchful eye on the progress of the Temp mix valve issue as it has been kicked from one committee to another with the only real issue being decided is to which committee the issue is being further deferred to.

“Our fear is that this issue will be kicked into the long grass and forgotten about.

“We hope you will all agree that this is an intolerable situation and cannot be allowed to continue.

“While committees defer and prevaricate our children turn up at A and E departments at a rate of 2500 per year, 500 of which are admitted to hospital, 65% stay in hospital for over five days, 75% are aged five and under, all due to bath water scald injuries.”

Mr Masterton described the frequency of bath scald injuries as a “horror.”

He added, “We can produce all sorts of figures from the big impersonal picture to highlight the tragedy that scald injuries are. What the figures don’t tell you is the personal human cost of scald injury, the cost in loss of self-confidence of the scald victim, the continued and repeated pain cycle that such injuries by their very nature create.”

Mr Masterton said the solution would be simple and inexpensive and installing thermostats as regulation in new buildings would ensure the whole family is protected from bath scald injuries.

If the legislation is accepted, Mr Masterton hopes to see it being introduced next year.