Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Eye operations suspended after dust from ‘ageing’ ventilation system caused patient infections

Finance director Alan Gray said the ventilation system needs replaced.
Finance director Alan Gray said the ventilation system needs replaced.

Eye operations were suspended at a city hospital after dust from an old ventilation system caused infections in patients.

NHS Grampian launched an investigation after rising numbers of patients developed potentially “life-changing” infections – which could have led to loss of vision – following ophthalmic procedures at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

An incident management team set up to investigate the issue discovered the “ageing” ventilation system at the Eye Out Patient Department (EOPD) needed replaced.

All invasive eye procedures were immediately suspended in the department and temporarily moved to short stay theatres in the hospital.

A patient and team of surgeons in an operating room during ophthalmic surgery.

There are now only three days each week for eye procedures compared to the five-day service previously available.

NHS Grampian is now working on a plan to install a new ventilation system so full services can resume again.

‘Infections in the eye can be life-changing often resulting in loss of vision’

Dust can cause problems for patients undergoing procedures as well as staff.

The key issue noted by the incident management team set up to investigate in June last year was that it could either be inhaled by medics or patients, or could contaminate surgical procedures.

An NHS Grampian report said: “Intra-operative infections in the eye can be life-changing often resulting in loss of vision in the affected eye.”

The report – compiled by the health board’s director of finance Alan Gray – highlights that all eye injections and cataract operations have since been moved to the short stay theatres.

The impact of the move on patients

Mr Gray notes in his report that the temporary move has had an impact on patients, particularly those requiring regular care.

He said: “Patients requiring injections need to attend on a monthly basis and the process requires an initial review by a nurse or consultant, then a scan, then travel to theatre and back again for review.

“The short stay theatre is located down two floors and a lengthy walk along the main corridor from the rest of the EOPD service. Visually impaired patients are therefore required to walk or be assisted to travel between locations twice in the same day.”

A doctor checks a patient’s vision.

Specialist teams working in the department carry out around 15,000 eye injections and 3,000 cataract operations every year.

There’s also fears the growing waiting list for cataract surgery in the theatre could impact on waiting times for other specialties in the ENT/General Surgery and Gynaecology departments.

What will happen next?

The issue has now been discussed at a health board meeting where it emerged a feasibility study had been carried out to consider options to improve the ventilation system.

It was concluded the only option was to replace five air handling units in the system and that most of the units were past their normal expected lifecycle and 50 years old.

NHS Grampian has now given the go-ahead for contractors to come up with designs which will be discussed by the health board in December.

At the meeting, Derick Murray, a non-executive board member, asked: “In doing this work are we going to interfere with the services currently being carried out at the eye department, will they still be able to carry on?”

Mr Gray said: “At this stage I cannot confirm that. It is likely there would be some impact but we would seek to try to minimise that if possible.”

He added that community hospitals could potentially be used for services to help minimise any disruption.

NHS Grampian has been contacted for comment.

This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.