‘Shocking statistics’ prompt calls for government funding to replace broken and obsolete medical devices
Woman suing NHS trust after blade broke off during surgery and lodged itself in her body
Almost 100 people have died and 4,000 have been harmed after equipment malfunctions in the NHS in the past three years, prompting calls for more government funding to upgrade broken and obsolete medical devices.
A defibrillator advising paramedics not to administer a shock, an emergency alarm system on a neonatal ward failing, and the camera on an intubation device going dark were just three failures after which patients died.
They are included in figures released for the first time by NHS England that show patients were harmed after 3,915 equipment malfunction incidents – with 87 being followed by a death – since 2022.
