Faulty NHS Grampian cleaning unit to be refurbished

NHS Grampian’s faulty Central Decontamination Unit – which cleans surgical tools – is to undergo a refurbishment to help prevent future shutdowns.

The facility was closed earlier in October after an unknown substance, thought to be linked to a faulty piece of equipment, was found on surgical instruments.

Since the site at Foresterhill shut down earlier this month nearly 500 elective surgical procedures have been postponed. Hundreds of dental procedures have also been cancelled.

Other health boards have been helping to clean equipment to allow some procedures to continue.

In an update, NHS Grampian’s nurse director June Barnard said new machine washers had been ordered and the refurbishment would take place while the site at Foresterhill was out of service.

Work is also continuing to identify the substance which led to the shutdown, but it is thought to relate to an issue with a compressor in the washer system.

Staff based at Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen, as well as teams at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Highland are turning around an average of 500 to 600 crates of instruments every day to keep urgent care going.

The decontamination unit at Woodend Hospital is said to be operating around the clock.

Ms Barnard added: “Although we have had to postpone 499 elective surgical procedures, more than twice that number of emergency and urgent procedures have gone ahead.

“We are enormously grateful for the support of our colleagues at other boards, which is vital to our recovery from this incident.

“Teams continue to strictly prioritise emergency and urgent procedures, to ensure we have the equipment we need.”

NHS Grampian also apologised for the disruption caused, especially for “regrettable” last minute postponements.

It said it could be up to two months before the unit is back up and running.