The NHS England National Patient Safety team has issued a national safety warning following reports of patients facing harm because the breathing circuit to which they were connected was incorrectly assembled.
The faulty circuits lacked a proper exhalation route for patients receiving invasive or non-invasive ventilatory support.
The warning urges organisations providing such support to patients to develop local guidance and visual resources to ensure proper assembly.
They are asked to put in place appropriate training on safety checks and clear communication is established.
The Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine has come up with a resource that guides for organisations to set up safe invasive and non-invasive breathing circuits.
Organisations have been allotted six months to take appropriate actions to mitigate the issues mentioned in the alert.
