If a fault is found with a BOC medical gas cylinder you must report your complaint by informing BOC Healthcare immediately on 0800 656 334.
Have the information about the complaint cylinder and your account details to hand as we will ask you the following questions to log the complaint:
Your organisation’s name, address and account number (if known)
The product code and name of medical gas cylinders involved in the complaint. Note we will need the individual details of each cylinder involved (barcode around the cylinder neck)
The nature of the complaint and any serious consequences which may have arisen (any patient or potential patient harm)
For each faulty medical cylinder, information from the following is required:
The name of the medical gas concerned from the product label
The cylinder size – which is the letter code on the product label
The batch number and filling date on the batch label attached to the cylinder neck
The cylinder bar code – this is the 10 digit number on a plastic clip attached to the cylinder neck
The name and telephone number of the person who we can phone back if there is any more information we need when investigating the complaint
Make sure the complaint cylinder is identified (tagged) and quarantined to ensure it does not get lost before BOC collects it! We will arrange for replacement cylinder to be supplied at the next delivery – when these cylinder are delivered the driver will bring the faulty cylinder tags with him. These must be attached to the correct cylinders so that we can investigate the complaint.
If the complaint is considered very serious (where the patient was affected by the complaint cylinder) they will be classed as an Incident cylinder. These will normally be collected immediately, to ensure a speedy investigation. These incidents are logged into our Synergi Incident database. Our regulatory department will be contacted to lodge relevant and appropriate adverse events with Medsafe NZ.
These cylinders should be labeled to prevent them from being inadvertently re-used. Only use tie on labels and do not use sticky labels or write on the side of the cylinder.