Hospital Recall's Patients

A hospital has confirmed that it recalled nearly 100 patients because of concerns that they were treated with contaminated equipment.

The Leicester Royal Infirmary wrote to 96 people who had examinations in its endoscopy unit between May 30 and June 6 after staff discovered that one of the machines used to decontaminate instruments was not working properly.

After an alarm was triggered, they found water had leaked into the disinfectant, diluting it.

Patients are being offered blood tests to put their minds at rest, but experts said the risk of potential infection is minimal.

Pauline Tagg, chief nurse at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, said: "We can confirm that we have found a fault in one of the decontamination units in our Endoscopy Unit at the Leicester Royal Infirmary. This was a machine error, not a human error.

"The trust immediately set about recalling the 96 patients involved, to reassure them and rule out any risk of infection.

"The trust takes patient safety very seriously and has started an investigation into the incident. In the interim the machine is not being used.

"We would like to reassure patients that the advice we have received from the Health Protection Agency is that the risk of any infections is, and remains, extremely small."