Put patients before profit says UNISON

UNISON is calling for the sterilisation of surgical instruments to be brought back within hospital control.

The move comes as surgeons say that operating theatres are being thrown into chaos and operations cancelled because of broken, missing or dirty tools.

They say the problems have become worse since cleaning started to be handed over to private firms - a practice encouraged by the Department of Health that UNISON has long branded as dangerous.

"UNISON has warned time and time again that taking sterilisation services out of hospitals and replacing them with supercentres - which are often miles away - is a recipe for disaster," said senior national officer Mike Jackson.

"No one should have to go through the pain and distress of having their operation cancelled at the last minute because the right equipment is not in place," he said.

"And lives should not be put at risk unnecessarily because surgical instruments have not been properly decontaminated and sterilised.

"Patient safety should come before private profit," Mr Jackson stressed, adding: "Clearly, that is not happening here.

"The government must call a halt to this dangerous drive to close down in-house sterilisation services before more patients are made to suffer."

UNISON says the Department of Health is seducing hospitals with promises of up to £1million to buy new equipment if they swap to using the private decontamination supercentres.

The union is campaigning against new centres being set up. The supercentres mean that highly specialised instruments travel long distances and are vulnerable to hold-ups because of bad weather, roadworks, congestion and traffic accidents. In addition, the delicate equipment is easily damaged in transit.

Mike Jackson added: "The risks of this programme far outweigh the benefits. In addition to patient safety the environmental costs are high. Instead of a short journey on a hospital trolley, thousands of extra road miles are necessary to transport the equipment."