Newfoundland's largest health authority says an internal review into testing errors for cyclosporine at its biochemistry lab in St. John's shows they were not reported to executives in a timely manner.
"It is a serious breach of hospital policy," Eastern Health CEO Vickie Kaminski told a news conference Tuesday.
"Those policies were made widely available and certainly staff know about it and that was not followed."
The review also found that literature was not reviewed before an analyzer was used to test for cyclosporine, a drug used on patients whose immune systems are threatened by disease or as a result of an organ transplant.
Eastern Health said fewer patients are now believed to have been affected by the test errors, which took place between June 10, 2009, and Feb. 12, 2010.
It says 212 patients were affected, eight of whom have since died. But Eastern Health hasn't said whether there is any direct link between the testing problems and the deaths.
Last week, Eastern Health said 234 patients were found to have received faulty cyclosporine tests.
The authority has already apologized to the parents of a 14-year-old boy who was given too much cyclosporine, which exacerbated the child's already critically ill condition.
The misreading of results can lead to patients being given too much of the drug.
The review also found that initial concerns about one of the analyzers were raised on Jan. 18, but it wasn't determined until Feb. 12 that it was providing incorrect results.
The machine that produced the incorrect results was installed at Eastern Health last April.
An external review by the Toronto-based University Health Network will begin later this week and is expected to be completed within four to six months.