Medical negligence claims and defective or failing equipment

Defects and failures are all-too-common issues in medical negligence claims. In many sectors, defects might not pose a particularly significant health and safety risk, but in healthcare they can literally be the difference between life and death.

Reporting defects and failures is therefore an essential part of patient protection and health and safety within the healthcare sector. Employers, workers and managers must be aware of the risks of failures and defects and know how to flag up these problems and remedy them when they are noticed, preventing medical negligence claims and improving patient outcomes.

What are failures and defects?

Failures and defects are:

- Incidents that occur due to inappropriate adjustments, modifications, maintenance or servicing, or through improper use, that cause equipment to become defective or to fail

- Events that could impact the safety of patients, employees or other people that arise due to defective or failing equipment

- Deficiencies in the economical or technological performance of equipment

- Failures in water, steam, electricity, communications, gas or other critical services

- Any defects identified by Local Authority or Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors that relate to products or their instructions

Dealing with defects and failures

Employees should feel free to report defects and failures - this is one of the best ways healthcare facilities can protect themselves from medical negligence claims. There is a Defect and Failure reporting system available, which is managed by the NGS and Social Care Information Centre. Reports can be made online at www.efm.ic.nhs.uk. Log-in names and passwords are not required. Alternatively, more information is available to concerned parties over the phone - people should dial 0845 300 6016.

Other action may be required when encountering defects and failures that could lead to medical negligence claims - employees should support the issue to their employer to ensure it is dealt with properly. Some of the additional actions that may be needed include:

- Reporting to the HSE under RIDDOR (the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations)

- Reporting under 1999's Ionising Radiation Regulations

- Reporting incidents to relevant NHS officers

- Preventing use and access to the failing or defective equipment

It is worth remembering that while healthcare bodies may wish to repair or remove the defective equipment in order to avoid medical negligence claims, this equipment may be evidence and should be treated accordingly. Therefore, this equipment should only be interfered with for explicit health and safety purposes or to prevent loss, personal injuries or additional damage.

No equipment should be removed unless the issue has been investigated and a course of action has been approved. Incident reports should be obtained, with eyewitness reports recorded, and in some cases, these reports should be signed in front of proper witnesses.

Preventing medical negligence claims and improving standards of patient care must be a key priority for all healthcare facilities. Employers must ensure their employees know what to do when encountering this equipment, as this knowledge could easily save patients' lives.

Stacey Aston

Stacey Aston has spent years looking into medical negligence compensation cases and other forms of mistreatment and poor service in the healthcare setting for a team of solicitors in Burnley, she likes playing with her pet rats.