£120,000 cost of hospital thefts

Aug 27 2008 by Gregory Tindle, South Wales Echo

ALMOST half the equipment stolen from Welsh hospitals in the past three years has gone missing from Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust.

Across Wales, equipment worth more than £120,000 has been stolen, with the items pinched ranging from pieces of medical equipment to wheelie bins and even toys. At Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, property worth £54,000 was stolen between 2005-2008.

A list of the thefts has been released following a series of Freedom of Information requests to the trusts by Plaid Cymru.

The most common and expensive thefts from all NHS trusts across Wales, which responded to the Plaid Cymru request for details, involved IT equipment and both desktop and laptop computers.

Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust suffered the greatest losses with 37 incidents recorded over the past three years, although there has been a dramatic drop in thefts in the last year – down to just eight.

Chris Franks, the Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales Central who requested the information, said: “While any theft from our hospitals is disturbing, I am very concerned there are people in society who seem to go out of their way to steal vital medical equipment such as blood pressure monitors and surgical cameras, something I find deplorable.

“While the overall value of thefts may not seem substantial in terms of the NHS budgets, it remains significant and I am pleased that NHS trusts are taking the issue of security very seriously and are briefing staff.”

Jonathon Davies, director of operations for the Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust, said: “We take any security breach very seriously, and in the last few years we have increased measures to improve the security on our sites. These include an investment in upgrading the CCTV facilities, including a control room for UHW, as well as the introduction of an access control system. We run crime prevention seminars for staff in an effort to reduce opportunist theft. While we are pleased to note some improvement, we will continue to look for ways to reduce theft on trust sites.”

greg.tindle@mediawales.co.uk