As a result of recent findings found here: Cheap Hospital Scales Put Lives in Danger, LACORS has highlighted several recommendations to help NHS bodies have a better understanding of how medical weighing scales can be used within hospitals for the benefit of both hospital and patient.

LACORS recommends that each hospital should have one dedicated department will oversee the purchase, maintenance and repair of all medical scales.

This should include:

Geoffrey Theobald from LACORS said, “We hope the NHS will work with trusts nationally to ensure that the necessary changes are made to help safeguard patient care.”

A repeat inspection of medical weighing scales within hospitals will be carried out in Spring 2009.

After inspecting 8,000 sets of weighing scales in over 200 hospitals across the UK, Trading Standards Officers discovered that many hospitals were using standard household or bathroom scales that are unsuitable for medical use.

One third of all hospital scales tested was found to be inaccurate and in danger of putting patients health at risk. In one such case a four-year-old cancer patient could have been given a harmful dose of radiation after being weighed on bathroom scales that incorrectly indicated the child had gained weight.

Key findings:

Lacors chairman Geoffrey Theobald commented: "Accurate weight readings for patients could be a matter of life and death."

For hospital and medical use it is only recommendeing that high quality Class III medical scales are used.