Basildon Hospital blood tests contaminated in 'major failure'

THE majority of blood tests taken at Basildon Hospital to identify life-threatening illnesses have been contaminated in a “major failure”.

An investigation has been launched by health bosses, with staff shortages allegedly causing the issue with “blood cultures”.

Blood cultures, which look for germs or fungi in the blood and more deadly bacteria are routinely carried out ahead of operations.

However, latest figures show that 70% of tests taken in the year up to January 2022 were found to be contaminated, leading to treatment being delayed as patients are re-tested.

The normal limit of contaminated tests would be below 3%.

The issue was raised at a joint board meeting of the clinical commissioning groups, which oversee local healthcare, on 24 March.

Katherine Kirk, chairman of quality and governance committee at the Basildon and Brentwood group, said: “If I’m understanding this right and it’s about the effectiveness of blood tests, what’s going on? It’s clearly a major failure.”

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Source: The Echo, 4 April 2022