Equipment failure leads to operations being cancelled

AN EQUIPMENT failure means NHS Shetland will be operating a reduced service for endoscopes between now and the end of the year.

It resulted in 5.4 per cent of operations being cancelled in July – equating to nine out of 166 scheduled operations, significantly higher than the Scottish average of 1.4 per cent. It was a significant rise on the three operations (1.9 per cent) cancelled in June.

Shetland MSP Tavish Scott said the health board must “despair” when the Scottish Government publishes statistics that “do not give the whole story” and called on the government to invest in the necessary equipment.

The health board’s director of nursing and acute services, Kathleen Carolan, explained: “The reason that we had increased cancellation of operations in July is because of equipment failure in our decontamination unit, which meant that we had to postpone some of the planned endoscopes.

“We are continuing to deliver a reduced service until the equipment has been replaced, which is likely to be until December 2015.”

Carolan said the health board’s clinical and public health teams were working with NHS Grampian, which is assisting in cleaning equipment, and Health Facilities Scotland, which is providing technical advice, to provide a service in the interim and to organise the replacement of its water filtration system.

She added: “Patients who require endoscopy are being given appointments on the basis of clinical priority and all patients referred for an endoscopic test are being made aware that they may be offered a short notice appointment because of the current arrangements.”

Scott said that NHS Shetland “must despair when stats are published by the Scottish Government which do not give the whole story”.

“Machinery breakdowns are a real frustration for patients and staff alike. So the government must invest in equipment that keeps the NHS working for patients and helps staff do their jobs.”