The incident at the Bedford Renal Unit in February 2024 led to 15 patients being admitted to hospital, 30 patients requiring a blood transfusion and one patient suffering a stroke, a patient safety incident investigation found.

Dr Justin Daniels, medical director at East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, said: ‘We acknowledge the findings of the recent investigation into the incident at Bedford Renal Unit and apologise for the impact this had on our patients and staff.'

Dr Daniels said the trust had ‘taken immediate steps to address a number of concerns raised during the report and continue to prioritise longer-term improvements to ensure patient safety'.

Measures taken include: enhancing water quality monitoring processes; engaging expert engineers to oversee and verify all maintenance works; continued improvement to the risk management framework; significant investment to improve dialysis infrastructure; and developing a 20-station modular dialysis unit which is expected to be operational by March 2025.

Kirit Modi, chair of Lister Area Kidney Patients Association (LAKPA), said: ‘While we greatly welcome the actions already taken by the trust, there is an urgent need for the trust to address outstanding issues.

‘LAKPA will continue to work in partnership with trust staff to ensure that the lessons from the closure of the Bedford unit are learnt and implemented.'