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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Michael Goodier and Denis Campbell

Thousands harmed and 87 dead after NHS equipment failures in England

A patient inside a scanner
Labour has pledged to double the number of scanners in English hospitals over the course of the parliament. Photograph: wilpunt/Getty Images

Almost 100 people have died and 4,000 have been harmed after equipment malfunctions in the NHS in the past three years, prompting calls for more government funding to upgrade broken and obsolete medical devices.

A defibrillator advising paramedics not to administer a shock, an emergency alarm system on a neonatal ward failing, and the camera on an intubation device going dark were just three failures after which patients died.

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