Probe into hospital oxygen shortage finds staff missed safety meetings

Doctors and nurses were absent from crucial meetings about oxygen supplies to hospital wards in the run up to the coronavirus crisis, a safety watchdog has warned.

At one hospital trust, which was forced to declare a major incident during the second wave of the crisis, doctors had not attended the hospital’s medical gas committee (MGC) since 2014.

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) said it had discovered a similar lack of input at other NHS trusts and also warned that none of the urgent alerts and guidance from NHS England ahead of the Covid surge had been discussed at the committee.

HSIB has launched an investigation into the failure of oxygen piping systems during the Covid surge after a number of hospitals were forced to declare major incidents and divert patients to other hospitals.

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Source: The Independent, 24 March 2021