Cheap Hospital Scales Putting Lives in Danger
NHS patients are being put in danger because some hospitals are weighing patients on household scales purchased from the high street, a recent investigation by LACORS has revealed.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:
- One in six hospitals have trained staff in the basic use of weighing equipment.
- One in five scales were not set to zero before weighing patients.
- Four out of ten scales were Class IV which lead to inaccurate measurement.
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.
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