Almost 100 people have died and 4,000 have been harmed after equipment malfunctions in the NHS in the past three years, prompting calls for more government funding to upgrade broken and obsolete medical devices.
A defibrillator advising paramedics not to administer a shock, an emergency alarm system on a neonatal ward failing, and the camera on an intubation device going dark were just three failures after which patients died.
They are included in figures released for the first time by NHS England that show patients were harmed after 3,915 equipment malfunction incidents – with 87 being followed by a death – since 2022.
Paul Whiteing, the chief executive of Action against Medical Accidents, said: “These are shocking statistics. Behind these numbers are real people who are needlessly harmed, the impact of which will be life-changing and traumatic.
“The scale of the harm and loss of life that has resulted from basic equipment failures and malfunctions shows in stark relief the scale of the tragedy that has resulted from years of underfunding in the NHS.”
The vast majority of incidents, which were logged by doctors and nurses when a device was broken, not fit for use or didn’t perform as expected, caused a low level of harm. That meant patients were unlikely to need further treatment beyond dressing changes or short courses of oral medicine.
There were 522 moderate harm incidents, in which a patient’s independence could be limited for up to six months. Meanwhile, on top of the 87 deaths, 68 patients were severely harmed – meaning they could have received permanent damage from the incident, or had a reduced life expectancy.
Source: The Guardian, 9 June 2025
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