Theives are putting patients’ lives at risk by stealing half-a-million-pounds-worth of medical equipment from hospitals across Scotland every year.
The Scottish Patients Association said yesterday that the theft of hundreds of thousands of pounds of equipment could lead to a delay in patients being diagnosed, and called for a shake-up in security procedures to bring hospitals in line with other public buildings.
Margaret Watt, chairwoman of the SPA said: “This is putting patients’ lives at risk. We are very concerned about this. If we don’t have the machines then people can’t find out what’s wrong with them. It could lead to a delay in treatment if people have to wait on another machine to be used. There could be someone waiting to find out if they have cancer”.
Watt said it was important security in Scotland improved. She said: “The Scottish Parliament has very high security, you need to sign in and get badged, why not have the same level of security in our hospitals?
“Supermarkets and shops will put security tags onto items worth £20, why not have electronic tags on hospital equipment which is worth thousands of pounds? There must be a ready market for this equipment, people would not steal a complex machine to have it for themselves in the garage”.
The stolen items included a £60,000 scanner and a pressure imaging sensor worth £10,500.
In one incident, a ward was accessed at St John’s Hospital in Livingston, West Lothian, and thieves escaped through an open window with an Ocuscan eye machine. Staff at NHS Fife said that items taken from wards included a motorised wheelchair and an orthopaedic couch.
Officials from NHS Grampian confirmed that five laptop computers and an ophthalmoscope had been reported missing from hospitals. Other items thought to be regularly taken from wards include mobile phones, credit cards and jewellery.
In total the stolen supplies were worth an estimated £500,000 per year. It is thought much of the equipment is sold to clinics abroad.
Hospital bosses have been told to improve their security procedures following the revelations. Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: “Levels of security will vary depending on where in a hospital you are – for example, some wards and clinical areas will have very strict controls, but public areas have more open access.
“Hospitals are public buildings and it is neither practical nor desirable to turn them into fortresses. However, it is the responsibility of health boards to ensure they have the right security measures and I have made it very clear that I expect them to improve on their already robust systems”.
Former NHS worker Douglas Stevenson was jailed for 20 months in May after he stole medical supplies worth £23,000 and sold them on eBay.
Anaesthetic assistant Stevenson, 31, took the items while working at hospitals across Glasgow, then stored them in his garage and his sister’s house.
He sold the items to buyers as far away as Australia and the USA before being caught out by manufacturers who spotted their specialist kit for sale on the internet auction site.
