Surgical fires must become ‘Never Event'

Lindsay Keeley, patient safety and quality lead for the AfPP, explains why such incidents must be classified as ‘Never Events’.

Surgical fires, which in the perioperative environment is a fire that occurs on or in a patient while in the operating theatre, are recognised as an international patient safety concern. This is due to the risks of injury to both patients and healthcare professionals. Surgical fires are categorised as either airway or non-airway and occur most commonly in the head, face, neck, upper chest or during ENT surgical procedures.1

In England’s hospitals, the prevention of surgical fires is an urgent and serious patient safety issue that demands greater prioritisation by NHS Improvement given the lack of standardised prevention protocols in place. The Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP) along with a coalition of patient safety focused organisations are now calling for more to be done to improve the prevention and management of surgical fires and to classify surgical fires as a Never Event