Wheelchair narrowly misses patient after it is sent flying through air by MRI scanner when it was caught in its magnetic field

• Incident put the scanner out of action for two days
  

By Emily Andrews for MailOnline
Updated: 05:02 EDT, 28 February 2012

The scene would not have looked out of place in a Harry Potter blockbuster.

But this was Southampton General Hospital – where wheelchairs are not routinely seen  flying across the room.

First the chair began to trundle eerily across the floor. Then it gathered pace, took off and rocketed towards a flabbergasted patient and radiographer.

Doctors give a patient an MRI scan (file picture). The tunnel is surrounded by a large circular magnet. The incident at Southampton General Hospital put the MRI scanner out of action for two days

Was this the latest in NHS super-technology? Or did they need to call Ghostbusters? Neither, it transpired.

The metal chair was being propelled by the huge magnetic force generated by the hospital’s MRI scanner.

After being whipped through the air, it wrapped itself around the scanning machine, causing £20,000 damage.

Fortunately the radiographer and the patient, who had been lying there moments before, had moved out of the way.

The drama is thought to have been blamed on a nurse who pushed the chair into the room to collect the patient, despite signs warning not to enter.

Managers at the hospital have attributed the events, which happened two weeks ago, to ‘human error’ and have launched an investigation.

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust confirmed that the incident caused £20,000 damage to the machine

A hospital insider said: ‘This could have easily ended with a double fatality. It’s a miracle nobody was hurt or killed.

‘The force of those magnets is so strong that they wouldn’t have had a chance to get out of the way. I cannot understand how this was allowed to happen.

‘Everybody working in the hospital is aware of the strength of the machine and there are so many signs warning people not to enter while a scan is taking place.

The nurse was shouted at to get out but they still continued into the room and the wheelchair just shot across the room.

‘It slammed into the scanner and was bent round into the part where the patient lies.

‘Something needs to be done to ensure all auxiliary nurses are aware of the dangers so this doesn’t happen again.’

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust confirmed that the incident caused £20,000 of damage to the machine and put it out of action for two days.

It is understood that no one has yet been disciplined.

A spokesman for the trust said: ‘This incident was a result of an error by a member of our staff. Although no one was injured, it is something we are taking very seriously.

‘We will continue to investigate to ensure all staff adhere to the stringent safety measures we have in place across the trust.’

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machines can cost up to £1million. When a scan is being carried out the patient lies inside a tube fitted with magnets. The machine uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of the inside of the body.

MRI scans provide a better contrast between the soft tissues of the body than CT scans and X-rays. They are especially useful in imaging the brain, muscles, the heart and cancers. Unlike CT scans and X-rays, they do not use ionising radiation.