Still no answers 18 days in
A total of 18 days after a residue was discovered on equipment in the reprocessing/sterilization area of the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, the cause has still not been identified.
Alberta Health Services was asked if there is any reason to believe that the newly constructed wing, in which the reprocessing department is located, was designed/constructed in a way that has led to the current water situation.
“We are continuing the investigation into the cause or causes of the water quality issues in the MDR,” said Katherine Chubbs, chief zone officer for AHS south zone.
Chubbs was asked whether changes will have to be made to the plumbing system for protection in future.
“Once we have the root cause or causes identified, we will take measures to prevent these issues from happening in future,” said Chubbs. “This has been a challenging task. As you can imagine, the medical device reprocessing water system is very complex with many different components that help ensure all surgical instruments and medical devices are safe and sterile.”
The News questioned whether any new equipment will be required as part of addressing the situation.
“We have already taken significant measures to resolve the issue, including flushing water lines and installing new water filters on all equipment,” said Chubbs. “Once we have the root cause or causes identified, we will take whatever measures we need to prevent this issue from happening in future.”
Between May 9 and 24 a total of 189 elective surgeries have had to be postponed as MHRH continues in attempt to identify the cause of the problem.
Chubbs paid tribute to physicians and staff who have worked extremely hard over the past three weeks.
“We have been continually working on this — sampling and testing water, running instruments and equipment through various cleaning systems. We will not resume reprocessing equipment in Medicine Hat until we are absolutely certain the system is working properly,” said Chubbs.