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A man died on the operating table after delays in sending blood to the theatre where surgeons were battling to save his life, an inquest has heard.
As a result of the incident, the NHS National Patient Safety Agency has issued a Rapid Response Report to all UK surgical units.
It warns that “surgery should not be commissioned or delivered in facilities that lack the systems and equipment to manage emergencies safely”.
University lecturer John Hubley, 58, died after complications arose during surgery to remove his gall bladder at Eccleshill Independent Sector Treatment Centre in Bradford.
The inquest was also told that more surgical equipment had to be brought to the operating theatre after Dr Hubley’s condition deteriorated.
The surgical team made three requests for blood from Bradford Royal Infirmary. The first batch took 70 minutes to arrive, the second at least 65 minutes, while the third took 85 minutes.
An inquest at Halifax Town Hall was told that blood was not stored at the Eccleshill unit. But since Dr Hubley’s death in last year, procedures at the unit have changed and units of O Negative blood are now routinely stored there.
Copyright Press Association 2008
