Vast sums spent on NHS record-keeping but records useless when needed

Women wrongly told they are not pregnant but nobody knows who they are

Thousands of women in Britain may have been given faulty pregnancy tests that wrongly indicate they are not having a baby, the Independent has learned. Up to 50 hospitals across the country are seeking to trace women who may be unaware they are pregnant because of a faulty batch of Clearview HGC. There are believed to be 44 potentially erroneous tests but tens of thousands of women may have been given the product in the past three months before the problem was spotted. The NHS is unsure which women received the faulty tests and one general hospital is seeking to alert 1,400 women. Tracing the women is important in case they endanger their baby by drinking heavily or by engaging in other activity unsuitable behaviour.

Clearview HGC tests, made by the US-based Inverness Medical Innovations, are also designed to detect ectopic pregnancies. The abnormality, where the baby grows outside of the womb, can cause severe internal bleeding. The tests are also often used in accident and emergency departments. Last night Inverness Medical Innovations said it was confident that it had rectified the problem, which occurred when an extra strip was added to the tests during production. It said: "We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this recall may have caused to our customers or their patients." Doctors are urging anyone who may have received the tests to visit their GP, local hospital or to buy a pregnancy testing kit from a chemist.

At least three months elapsed between the delivery of the first faulty products to the NHS and a product recall begun last week. The fault was spotted by one unnamed hospital, which contacted Inverness Medical Innovations. The US global health care group then began an investigation that culminated in a product recall on May 31, when it wrote to up to 50 hospitals. It said in a statement: "Our investigation indicated that the fault was caused by one strip of material that was incorporated into 44 tests, so, our investigation indicated the problem was limited to 44 tests. "We determined that these 44 tests could be in up to 50 specific hospitals and we immediately alerted the hospitals concerned. "We are confident that the problem has been correctly diagnosed and is being rectified by changes to our manufacturing process." However it refused to say which hospitals were affected, citing customer "confidentiality."

Kingston Hospital in south-west London disclosed that 1,400 women were tested with Clearview HGC between April 12 and June 1. It said in a statement: "We have been made aware by a supplier that a small number of pregnancy test kits that may have been used at the hospital could be faulty.

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation. Both Australia and Sweden have large private sector health systems with government reimbursement for privately-provided services so can a purely private system with some level of government reimbursement or insurance for the poor be so hard to do?

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