16.02.11
Safety warnings over hospital airway suction devices
Hospitals have been warned to examine their airway suction equipment.
Failures of the devices are though to have contributed to seven deaths and 105 serious incidents in England and Wales from January 2005 to December 2009.
The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has notified hospital trusts of the risks from failures when the suction equipment meant to clear patients’ airways does not do its job.
A 79-year-old man died after a failed resuscitation attempt at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth in November. Devon Coroner Ian Arrow wrote to the Department of Health following the inquest into the death of the man, Cecil Barnes, and the DH referred it to the NPSA.
The NPSA said that common failures included equipment not being available or set up incorrectly, not clean, or batteries not being fully charged.
The agency added: “The reports suggest that lack of training and poor checking procedures were underlying causes for these incidents.”
Dr Suzette Woodward, director of patient safety at the NPSA, told The Herald newspaper in Plymouth: “We have recently disseminated data across the NHS relating to airway suction equipment, raising the profile of this risk.”
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