are there any guidelines or specifications for resterilising single use items which are expired and not opened from its original pouch?

Nayel

The single-use symbol also means that re-sterilization should not be performed, even if the item has not been used. The manufacturer will not provide any details of decontamination procedures so if such an item is re-processed then it is the hospital or person who decides to perform the re-processing who would be responsible for the future safety of that device and any patients on whom it is used. It is a risky procedure which should be avoided. In the UK we would not re-use or re-process any single-use device. The legal and practical situations may be different elsewhere but the philosohy is always the same.

Peter Hooper, UK

Hello!

In addition to Peter's statement - which I fully support - it is important to know that the expiry on many single-use items are also set because of material properties. Certain materials, e.g. some plastics, rubbers etc. suffer from ageing over time. This can lead to very dangerous situations, e.g. when particles from devices which became brittle peel off, flexibility is lost or connections become loose.
In such cases the original manufacturer of the single-use device would not take any liability.

Kind regards
K. Hahnen

Dear Nayel,

The answer on question Q00117 also gives you further information.

Best regards,
Wim Renders