The Eccleshill Independent Sector Treatment Centre in Bradford opened its doors in July 2005. The centre was owned and operated by American firm Nations Healthcare, although it was taken over last year by another firm.

Ministers hope that by taking on routine NHS work such centres will ensure that by next month patients will get surgery within 18 weeks of being referred by their GP.

But inquiries into the circumstances surrounding Dr Hubley's death have uncovered serious failures in its procedures.

His case led to a nationwide alert last year from the National Patient Safety Agency to all UK surgical units warning that "surgery should not be commissioned or delivered in facilities which lack the systems and equipment to manage emergencies safely".

It said the incident was exacerbated by a lack of critical resuscitation devices and a shortage of surgical equipment – as well as no blood being available.

None was stored at the unit and the inquest into his death heard a porter was called on to drive in his own car to Bradford Royal Infirmary and back again with blood supplies.

It was claimed delays of up to 90 minutes in receiving the blood severely hampered efforts to save Dr Hubley's life despite assurances by the unit's management that it would be on site within half an hour.

At one stage a taxi was even ordered to deliver blood as part of arrangements branded "Mickey Mouse" and a "recipe for disaster" by Deputy Coroner Paul Marks.

Meanwhile there was no equipment to warm the blood when it arrived and it had to be heated up in buckets of hot water. The fall in Dr Hubley's body temperature played a critical role in the ultimate failure of efforts to resuscitate him.

There was also no telephone in the operating theatre and doctors made increasingly desperate calls on their mobile phones to summon help from colleagues and check on the delays.

Surgeons were forced to bring additional equipment from the infirmary to try to repair damage to Dr Hubley's portal vein because key items were not available at the centre, hampering efforts to stem "torrential" blood loss which saw him lose up to 40 per cent of his blood.

Other doctors arrived with resuscitation equipment which was also not available at the unit, but despite the seven-hour effort Dr Hubley died next day.

An expert analysis by internationally-renowned Leeds-based surgeon Prof Michael McMahon found Dr Hubley should not have undergone surgery to remove his gall bladder in the unit because he was at higher risk of complications.

He found that if the operation had been carried out at Bradford's infirmary and the same complication had developed it was likely Dr Hubley would have survived with the additional back-up available.

He said all the staff involved, including surgeon Jay Gokhale, who led the operation had done their best under the circumstances but there had been an "assumption of safety" at the centre rather than an "assumption of risk" and the problems with equipment and systems amount to "gross failures".

The National Patient Safety Agency says all units need to have in place co-ordinated systems and equipment to respond immediately to emergencies.

Adequate supplies of blood, resuscitation equipment and necessary surgical equipment needed to be available in case of major bleeding. Blood must be available quickly for all operations and be transported to the operating theatre without delay.

Formal checks needed to be carried out before every procedure that appropriate emergency equipment was in place.