Hospitals warned over shoddy wiring

Experts looked at the safety of plugs and leads on equipment

Patients could be at risk of electrocution from faulty wiring in NHS hospitals, officials have warned.

Badly placed extension leads could also cause patients to trip and injure themselves.

A Department of Health agency has issued warnings regarding the safety of hospital equipment.

They say many hospitals are unaware of the problem.

This represents a risk to both staff and patients.

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency

Trusts have now been asked to check the safety of medical equipment and fit more electrical sockets to reduce the amount of cable and multiple plugs.

There is particular concern about medical equipment being powered through non-medical equipment or shared extension leads.

Faults found include an endoscope, a tube used to examine internal organs, connected to a domestic video recorder.

Risks

Safety experts said that, in some cases, a number of pieces of medical equipment on a trolley might share one extension lead.

They also criticised the practice of linking one extension lead to another, known as "daisy-chaining".

Many extension leads were also found to have not been properly tested.

A recent audit of 19 NHS trusts found plugs with loose and internal screws, reversed live and neutral leads and poor earthing of equipment.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MRHA) has issued a warning about the dangers.

It said: "This represents a risk to both staff and patients."

Hospital bosses have now been asked to identify the location of all extension leads, to check them routinely and to install more sockets to reduce the reliance on leads.

GPs, dentists and private hospitals have also been issued with guidance.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health told BBC News Online: "The MHRA has issued advice to alert the NHS to new guidance in the form of a British and European standard (BS EN 60601-1-1), which has recently been published to help and guide those setting up systems involving medical electrical and other electrical devices.

"They should be aware of this guidance to ensure that systems are as safe as possible for the benefit of both patients and staff."