Staff shortages in Sydney’s hospitals force surgeons to use ‘sticky tape’ to fix surgical instruments
'Due to gaps in staffing, scopes are left soaking in the enzyme fluid for up to five days,' a confidential surgeon review disclosed
By Anna Patty
Senior surgeons say they are using “sticky tape” to fix surgical instruments during operations because of shortages of staff and equipment at Sydney, Australia’s busy Prince of Wales complex of hospitals.
A litany of failures in the efficient supply of sterile equipment that works is outlined by a senior surgeon and in a confidential internal review.
The surgeon told Fairfax Media doctors have been forced to use sterile sticky tape to hold together two separate parts of a surgical instrument used for internal investigations because of the shortages. Children have been woken out of anaesthetic after cancellation of their operation because of broken equipment.
Tubes used to drain fluid from brains had also been missing, leaving doctors to be “creative” with other equipment, including infant feeding tubes. Special pins needed to hold a head steady for brain surgery were often in short supply and sometimes missing, leaving a relatively unsteady head rest as the only alternative.
“It happens all the time,” the surgeon said.
“It is a lack of staffing and poor management of the staff.