Surgical instrument issues
Case reference FOI2026/00282
Received 4 February 2026
Published 11 September 2026
Request
1. What is the number of surgical procedures cancelled or postponed since Jan 1st 2022 due to problems with surgical instruments, including: inadequate sterilisation, missing instruments, faulty equipment, or contamination concerns?
2. What is the number of internal incident reports or safety concerns raised since Jan 1st 2022 from health practitioners referring to issues with surgical equipment or instruments? Please break down the information by calendar year and hospitals in your trust.
Response
1. What is the number of surgical procedures cancelled or postponed since Jan 1st 2022 due to problems with surgical instruments, including: inadequate sterilisation, missing instruments, faulty equipment, or contamination concerns?
Data not held.
Unfortunately, we cannot provide an answer as the question is specifically asking about cancellations due to problems with surgical instruments, which we cannot identify from the data.
The cancellations reasons available in the data will not correlate to the question and it wouldn’t be recommended that we ‘assume’ the reason for a cancellation.
2. What is the number of internal incident reports or safety concerns raised since Jan 1st 2022 from health practitioners referring to issues with surgical equipment or instruments?
|
Hospital |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
2026* |
Grand Total |
|
John Radcliffe Hospital |
189 |
175 |
259 |
298 |
317 |
1238 |
|
Horton General |
7 |
34 |
41 |
28 |
19 |
129 |
|
Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre |
22 |
26 |
45 |
27 |
15 |
135 |
|
Churchill Hospital |
181 |
110 |
167 |
102 |
94 |
654 |
|
Grand Total |
399 |
345 |
512 |
455 |
445 |
2156 |
|
*up to am including 6th September |
Documents
This is Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
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