A London hospital was left without vital equipment for months after a spate of thefts, The Telegraph can reveal.
Anaesthetists at University College London Hospital (UCLH), one of London’s busiest hospitals, struggled for months to find rooms to put patients to sleep after tens of thousands of pounds worth of valuable ultrasound and anaesthetic equipment and scopes were stolen and sold on the black market.
Insiders said the equipment was stolen “to order” and sold online to private cosmetic and dental clinics.
The equipment was only replaced after doctors were left unable to find rooms to put patients to sleep before operations.
Scotland Yard confirmed a 48-year-old man was arrested in April 2023 in connection with the thefts. He has since been released under investigation.
UCLH reported the thefts to the Metropolitan Police in September 2022 “and are cooperating fully with the police investigation”.
The thieves are believed to have stolen small components from anaesthetic machines which are used to measure the level of carbon dioxide and other gases during operations.
A senior NHS source said the components were “essential” for monitoring patients, saying “so if you don’t have them you can’t give them a general anaesthetic”.
Their size means they can be easily smuggled inside a bag without being noticed, they added.
About half a dozen ultrasound probes, which are used to help provide pain relief and cost at least £5,000, also went missing, the source said.
Hospital staff believe an employee is responsible for the thefts.
‘Thief had access to restricted areas’
The source said: “It needs to be somebody who has got card access into restricted areas, there isn’t CCTV everywhere, so it’s difficult to know exactly who that person could be.
“It would need to be somebody with a degree of medical knowledge as to what are the bits that they are stealing and what are their worth and their resale value.
“They are probably being stolen relatively to order. The other thing they have stolen are scopes, so bits of surgical equipment that would look inside a joint.
“They are very niche pieces of equipment.”
They added: “The items can be traced back to which hospital they have come from and some of them have come from UCLH.”
The items are feared to have been bought by private cosmetic and dental clinics and are used to give anaesthetic or sedation to patients for procedures including liposuction.
The source said: “Normally we would have these [anaesthetic] modules both in the anaesthetic rooms, so where we put people to sleep, and in the operating theatres.
“What’s happened is that so many were stolen that actually there were many places where there weren’t enough to go around.
“You couldn’t put patients to sleep in the anaesthetic room.
“We were unable to be as efficient as we were before because we are unable to use different areas to put people to sleep and then do their operation in the theatre.”
Hospital managers are understood to have asked staff to remove the components and probes from machines and lock them away in a storeroom for safekeeping at night as a temporary measure before additional security was added in early 2024.
A spokesman for UCLH said: “UCLH has robust security measures in place and we contacted the Met Police as soon as we realised medical equipment had gone missing last year.
“We have taken the appropriate action in a timely manner while cooperating fully with the police investigation. It would not be appropriate to comment further.”
They added the stolen equipment was replaced in the early part of 2023.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: “A man has been arrested in connection with an ongoing investigation into the theft of medical equipment from a London hospital.
“The stolen items are believed to have been taken over an extended period until September 2022, when the matter was reported to police.
“A complex investigation remains ongoing. On Tuesday, 18 April a 48-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of theft.
“He has been released under investigation while inquiries continue.
“Officers are liaising with representatives from the hospital regarding investigative updates”.
