‘Concern and distress’ as health board admits patients were operated on with non-sterile equipment

Stephen Price

A Welsh health board has apologised after more than twenty patients were put at risk of serious infections, after a hospital performed operations using equipment which hadn’t been fully sterilised.

Across two days in February of this year, unsterilised equipment had been used ‘repeatedly’ during procedures at the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, before the oversight was recognised on 27 February.

A whistleblower spoke with Wales Online’s Conor Gogarty and shared their fears that affected patients had still not been informed despite a risk of serious infection from the instruments, which the publication understands had previously been used in other operations.

The whistleblower claimed management had warned staff not to speak to the press about the ongoing situation.

A total of 21 patients are thought to have been affected by the hospital’s grave mistake, with Aneurin Bevan University Health Board currently conduction a full investigation.

The patients have all been contacted directly, and the health board has arranged for ‘precautionary testing’ to take place for all those who may have been affected to ensure they are screened for blood-borne viruses. Support is also in place to help them deal with any fallout.

The health board has also stressed that there is no cause for wider concern, with anyone impacted having already been offered support.

Investigation

In an email shared with media outlets, Nicola Prygodzicz, Chief Executive of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board shared: “An issue was identified within our Hospital Sterile Services Department (HSDU) relating to the reprocessing of a very small number of medical instruments used within theatre and outpatient settings.

“While manual cleaning and the disinfecting automated washing processes were completed, the final sterilisation cycle was not initiated before the instruments were returned to clinical use. As a result, the instruments could not be classified as fully sterile at the point of use.

“Once the issue was identified, the instruments were immediately withdrawn and fully reprocessed. The incident was reported promptly and is being investigated in line with our incident reporting procedures.

“A total of 21 patients may potentially have been affected, across two days at the end of February. All affected patients have been carefully identified through a detailed look‑back exercise and have now been contacted directly.

“While the clinical risk of blood‑borne virus exposure is extremely low, precautionary testing, follow‑up and support have been arranged to provide full reassurance. Senior clinical oversight arrangements are in place to manage the response, patient communication and ongoing investigation.

“We fully recognise the concern and distress incidents of this nature can cause and want to offer our sincere and heartfelt apologies to those patients for the worry this situation may cause.

“The wellbeing of our patients is our highest priority, and we are taking all necessary actions to understand how this occurred and to prevent it from happening again.

“We also recognise that others may feel concerned on hearing about this incident and are reassuring patients and the public that this was a very limited incident, those affected have been contacted directly, and there is no wider cause for concern.”

The Welsh Government has been asked to comment.