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A whistleblower warned that the current use of a type of automatic syringe by the NHS could have resulted in widespread premature death in elderly patients.
The devices, to deliver drugs, including potent opioid analgesics, were allowed to be used until 2015 despite warnings about the risk of death due to a user error going back to the 1990s.
Doctors had warned that two misleading models of infusion pumps could lead to the delivery of a daily dose of medication in one hour.
The whistleblower on the government's investigation into hundreds of deaths at the Gosport Memorial Hospital Hospital spoke to the Sunday Times after the panel's report was limited in its findings on the devices.
"Anyone who has lost his grandmother in the last 30 years when opiates have been administered by this equipment will wonder:" Is that what killed Grandma? ", They told the newspaper.
An article published in 2008 by the now-defunct NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (APS) indicated that appliances were an "essential component of palliative care".
About 40,000 devices, a quarter of the world total, were in the United Kingdom, the majority in primary care.
Doctors had raised concerns about the Graseby MS26 and Graseby MS16A after cases emerged of devices, known as drivers, causing dangerous over-infusion of drugs due to confusion caused by differences in their function.
The PSA said the devices, which seemed "very similar to color," delivered drugs at different rates.
"Confusing MS16A (which delivers in mm per hour) with MS26 (which delivers in mm per 24 hours) can result in an infusion rate 24 times higher than needed, and many adverse events of their type have been reported," said the PSA.
The devices had been designed before the introduction of standards to ensure the safety of these infusion pumps, added the PSA. Hazard notices were issued by the Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Agency and its predecessor to ensure that NHS staff knew the difference between the models.
Belfast Telegraph
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