Endoscopes deemed as safe after Hepatitis scare

Posted: August 29, 2014

Posted in: Medical Negligence 

Following a scare earlier this month about the cleanliness of endoscopes used at a Carlisle hospital, results have found that none of the patients were infected. North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust realised at the beginning of the month that numerous endoscopes had not been cleaned properly before being used on patients. A total of 357 patients received letters offering blood tests to check for hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

It has been revealed, that of the 37 arranged tests, none have come back positive. People that had undergone an endoscopy between 20th of May and 19th of June were informed that the endoscopes had not been cleaned to their usual standard. It had been a combination of human error and design weakness in the cleaning machines that led to not enough disinfectant being used during the cleaning process.

“All blood tests have come back negative”

A spokesperson for the trust said: “We have now been in touch with almost all patients affected by this precautionary recall and, as expected, all blood test results to date have come back as negative.”

Since the incident, a system has been employed to make sure that the problem does not repeat itself. It was found that the wrong tube had been put in the wrong bottle of cleaner, a problem which has now been amended.

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