Government of Jersey

Sterilisation of surgical instruments (FOI)

Produced by the Freedom of Information office
Authored by States of Jersey and published on 09 February 2018.

Request

Could you please share the number of surgical instruments returned to Jersey hospital dirty or broken after being sent to be sterilised and whether operations had to be cancelled as a result.

Could you break down by year starting from 2015, the type of instrument, what was wrong with it and what happened as a result.

Response

Faulty devices returned

2015 : 8 - replacement instrument available

2016 : 4 - replacement instrument available

2017 : 1 - replacement instrument available

Returned due to foreign objects / particles – (dirty)

2015 : 4 - replacement instrument available

2016 : 5 - replacement instrument available

2017 : 1 - replacement instrument available

There have been no cancelled operations due to dirty or broken instruments.

Types of instruments include trays, scopes, forceps, needle holders and scalpel handles.

For context, the following is the number of instrument trays and supplementary instruments in total processed in the years 2015 to 2017:

2015 - Trays and supplementary instruments = 64,837

2016 - Trays and supplementary instruments = 62,175

2017 - Trays and supplementary instruments = 62,477