Report alleges unsafe sterilisation

The Irish Patients Association has called for an independent inquiry to establish if inadequate sterilisation of equipment at one of Ireland's biggest hospitals presented a risk to people who were treated there.

The call follows a report that consultants hired by St James's Hospital in Dublin in 1996 found that medical instruments were not being properly sterilised and recommended the procedures should be changed immediately.

The report in yesterday's Sunday Independent also claims that a nurse who headed the hospital's sterilisation unit and had lobbied for the changes a year before they were put in place, subsequently faced disciplinary procedures, was transferred and later left the hospital.

A spokesman for St James's said last night that sterilisation procedures up to 1996 were in line with "international standards" but were changed when those standards came into question. The practice of "flash sterilisation" of instruments ceased following the review and a series of reforms had since been implemented. Any members of the public concerned about sterilisation procedures then or now should contact the hospital but there had been no such calls as of yesterday evening, he said.

A spokesman for the Minister for Health said officials would discuss the issue today with the Eastern Regional Health Authority.

The Irish Patients Association said the case would not encourage other healthcare workers to emulate the "courageous" nurse who had called the hospital's procedures into question and urged the development of "non-punitive reporting systems" for hospital errors. It said St James's treated 55,000 patients annually and that almost a year passed before the unsafe practices highlighted by the nurse ended.

"In the best interests of patients and the public, we are calling for an independent inquiry to establish if any patients treated during this period may have been affected."