In 2005, according to a BBC News report at the time, operating rooms all over the United Kingdom were thrown into chaos and operations canceled due to broken, missing, or dirty surgical instruments. The Royal College of Surgeons called for a national audit of decontamination units, following a report in the April 2008 Clinical Services Journal on surgery being canceled due to instruments being returned with visible blood and bone contamination. A report from the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) decontamination program revealed that 1,765 operations were called off at the last minute in 2005 and 2006 because of instrument problems.

This was a high-profile problem for the NHS and was taken very seriously, particularly because an audit eight years ago highlighted the need to upgrade and modernize decontamination facilities. Many hospitals have entered into contracts with commercial sterilization services, while others, such as the New Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, have an in-house unit.

 …