The alert identifies the following actions to be taken by all hospitals and community services that undertake surgery or other investigations and procedures using anaesthesia:
• Establish if local systems are adequate to prevent the risk of leaving residual anaesthetic drugs in cannulae or intravenous line post surgery or investigation/procedure requiring anaesthesia in your services and if similar incidents have occurred.
• Consider and document if immediate action needs to be taken locally and develop an action plan, if required, to reduce the risk of a similar incident occurring.
• Disseminate this Alert to all staff involved in caring for patients post anaesthesia
• Share any learning from local investigations or locally developed good practice resources by emailing:patientsafety.enquires@nhs.net