“Mammoth effort” to restore decontamination capacity at ARI
Published: 21/10/2025 08:31NHS Grampian is continuing efforts to restore its decontamination capacity following the shutdown of its Central Decontamination Unit – which sterilises and prepares surgical instruments – at Foresterhill.
Nurse director June Barnard, who is supporting teams in the recovery effort, explained: “We would again like to apologise to everyone affected by procedures being postponed. We are very much aware of the personal impact this has on individuals’ and families’ quality of life, and we’re working hard to address the situation as quickly as possible.
“We’ve focused a lot on what we’re not doing – how many procedures have been postponed, for example – but the work being done in the background is also hugely significant so I’m keen to share some of that.
“On a normal day, a significant proportion of our surgical capacity at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary is dedicated to emergency operations and urgent cancer care – the work we have been having to prioritise recently. This means that in the time Foresterhill CDU has been shut down, although we have had to postpone 499 elective surgical procedures, more than twice that number of emergency and urgent procedures have gone ahead.
“Several specialties affected by the shutdown, such as podiatry, sexual health, and primary care, are using single-use items for the time being – so overall there is still a huge amount of work going on. Clinicians who can’t be in the operating theatre are focusing on alternative activities like outpatient clinics so this will make a difference to people on our waiting lists too.”
As well as operating their decontamination unit at Woodend Hospital almost 24/7, NHS Grampian is continuing to benefit from the support of other health boards to sterilise and prepare the huge volume of equipment that’s needed on a daily basis.
June added: “We are enormously grateful for the support of our colleagues at other boards, which is vital to our recovery from this incident. Teams continue to strictly prioritise emergency and urgent procedures, to ensure we have the equipment we need.”
“There’s a huge variation in terms of the type of equipment theatre teams need for these procedures. Some crates of surgical equipment contain one instrument while others can have around 100, and different surgeries require different types of equipment. Significant amounts of planning and coordination are required behind the scenes to make sure that everything required is available.”
Portfolio medical director for clinical support services, Rafael Moleron, who is also supporting the recovery effort, said: “I would struggle to think of a team across the local health system who are not affected by the current situation in some way or going the extra mile to help us resolve the situation. We would really like to thank colleagues across the board for their patience, perseverance, commitment and understanding as we work to restore our decontamination capacity.
“The equipment that is needed for procedures changes with what patients present with on any given day so it’s a difficult balance to ensure we always have what we need for everything at the moment.
“This is why we have had some instances where procedures have had to be postponed at the last minute, and this is hugely regrettable. We are sorry to anyone who has been affected in this way, and to staff who have had to deliver this difficult news. We are doing our best to prevent this and safety is our priority.”
The recovery team is consistently trying to expand decontamination capacity across the country. Decontamination officers go through a two-year training programme to ensure they meet standards required by law so there is no quick fix in terms of the redeployment of staff. While NHS Orkney is supporting the sterilisation of a huge number of instruments which require to be re-processed, NHS Grampian colleagues based at Woodend and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, and NHS Highland colleagues are helping to turn around an average of 500-600 crates of instruments needed to keep emergency and urgent care going on a daily basis.
Work continues to confirm the source of the substance which prompted the shutdown, which was found on a small number of instruments after processing at the beginning of the month. The working assumption is this relates to an issue with a compressor in the Foresterhill CDU machine washer system.
June continued: “We are planning to gradually increase the number of procedures which can go ahead as the huge backlog of instruments requiring reprocessing clears. New machine washers have been ordered and these, alongside a programme of work to refurbish the Foresterhill Central Decontamination Unit facility while it is out of use, will mean situations like this do not arise in future.
Nurse director June Barnard, who is supporting teams in the recovery effort, explained: “We would again like to apologise to everyone affected by procedures being postponed. We are very much aware of the personal impact this has on individuals’ and families’ quality of life, and we’re working hard to address the situation as quickly as possible.
“We’ve focused a lot on what we’re not doing – how many procedures have been postponed, for example – but the work being done in the background is also hugely significant so I’m keen to share some of that.
“On a normal day, a significant proportion of our surgical capacity at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary is dedicated to emergency operations and urgent cancer care – the work we have been having to prioritise recently. This means that in the time Foresterhill CDU has been shut down, although we have had to postpone 499 elective surgical procedures, more than twice that number of emergency and urgent procedures have gone ahead.
“Several specialties affected by the shutdown, such as podiatry, sexual health, and primary care, are using single-use items for the time being – so overall there is still a huge amount of work going on. Clinicians who can’t be in the operating theatre are focusing on alternative activities like outpatient clinics so this will make a difference to people on our waiting lists too.”
As well as operating their decontamination unit at Woodend Hospital almost 24/7, NHS Grampian is continuing to benefit from the support of other health boards to sterilise and prepare the huge volume of equipment that’s needed on a daily basis.
June added: “We are enormously grateful for the support of our colleagues at other boards, which is vital to our recovery from this incident. Teams continue to strictly prioritise emergency and urgent procedures, to ensure we have the equipment we need.”
“There’s a huge variation in terms of the type of equipment theatre teams need for these procedures. Some crates of surgical equipment contain one instrument while others can have around 100, and different surgeries require different types of equipment. Significant amounts of planning and coordination are required behind the scenes to make sure that everything required is available.”
Portfolio medical director for clinical support services, Rafael Moleron, who is also supporting the recovery effort, said: “I would struggle to think of a team across the local health system who are not affected by the current situation in some way or going the extra mile to help us resolve the situation. We would really like to thank colleagues across the board for their patience, perseverance, commitment and understanding as we work to restore our decontamination capacity.
“The equipment that is needed for procedures changes with what patients present with on any given day so it’s a difficult balance to ensure we always have what we need for everything at the moment.
“This is why we have had some instances where procedures have had to be postponed at the last minute, and this is hugely regrettable. We are sorry to anyone who has been affected in this way, and to staff who have had to deliver this difficult news. We are doing our best to prevent this and safety is our priority.”
The recovery team is consistently trying to expand decontamination capacity across the country. Decontamination officers go through a two-year training programme to ensure they meet standards required by law so there is no quick fix in terms of the redeployment of staff. While NHS Orkney is supporting the sterilisation of a huge number of instruments which require to be re-processed, NHS Grampian colleagues based at Woodend and NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, and NHS Highland colleagues are helping to turn around an average of 500-600 crates of instruments needed to keep emergency and urgent care going on a daily basis.
Work continues to confirm the source of the substance which prompted the shutdown, which was found on a small number of instruments after processing at the beginning of the month. The working assumption is this relates to an issue with a compressor in the Foresterhill CDU machine washer system.
June continued: “We are planning to gradually increase the number of procedures which can go ahead as the huge backlog of instruments requiring reprocessing clears. New machine washers have been ordered and these, alongside a programme of work to refurbish the Foresterhill Central Decontamination Unit facility while it is out of use, will mean situations like this do not arise in future.
“We’d again like to thank colleagues across the country for helping us and we are all very much looking forward to getting back to full capacity.”