- There were 430 ‘never events’ at NHS trusts in England between April and March
- Bungling doctors have operated on the wrong body parts and mixed up organs
- Surgical tools inside patients a staggering number of times, NHS data reveals
- Guys and St Thomas’ in London was responsible for the most errors, with 10
Catastrophic hospital blunders deemed so serious that they should never take place are happening to nine NHS patients every week.
There were more than 430 so-called ‘never events’ logged at NHS trusts across England in the 11 months between last April and March this year.
Bungling doctors have operated on the wrong body parts, mixed up organs and left surgical tools inside patients a staggering number of times.
And the worst eight hospitals were today named and shamed – with Guys and St Thomas’ in London responsible for 10 errors.
There were more than 430 so-called ‘never events’ logged at NHS trusts across England in the 11 months between last April and March this year
Data published by NHS bosses revealed:
- Surgery took place in the wrong location on 187 occasions
- Four women had ovaries removed in error during hysterectomies, leaving them to face a lifetime of hormone replacement pills
- 102 patients had surgical equipment left inside them, including drill bits, screws, needles and swabs
- Three people fell from badly maintained windows – and 62 patients was subjected to the wrong implant
- Medics operated on the wrong eye three times and transfused the wrong blood type four times
In Liverpool, hospital bosses were forced to apologise after removing the wrong mole from a cancer-scare patient.
While in Leicester, a mix-up with two men with the same surname saw one of them wrongly having an operation.
A top medical negligence lawyer warned that NHS trusts face massive compensation payouts for surgical error claims.
Linda Millband, of Thompsons Solicitors, said: ‘Taking out parts of the body without consent of the patient is clearly something which should never happen.
‘Never events are extremely serious and by the very name, should not occur at any time.
‘The fact that more than one event occurs each day suggests that clinical negligence cases are prevalent and that hospitals are not being provided with adequate government funding to eradicate the most serious acts of negligence.’
There were 424 never events in 2016-17, which included 18 operations on the wrong knee.
NHS chiefs say the rising number is due in part to increased reporting by staff.
A spokesman said: ‘It is vital that when terrible events happen hospitals investigate and take action to improve safety and reduce the risks of it happening again.’
Never events represent a fraction of the 4.6 million surgical procedures carried out each year and only occur in one in 20,000 cases of surgery.
Such incident have even led to deaths, including that of Frank Hibbard, who had undergone cancer surgery in October 2001 at Luton and Dunstable Hospital.
Bungling medics left an 8cm-long piece of gauze inside his pelvis, which triggered a soft tissue cancer and led to the lorry driver’s death, aged just 69.
In 2015, Britain was called out for being one of the worst offenders for leaving items inside patients by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The data comes after MailOnline reported on a series of NHS blunders that caused 137 men to lose one of their testicles in the past six years.
Some £2.8 million in compensation was dished out to those who were affected by the ‘devastating’ incidents – around £20,000 each.
The statistics, released by NHS Resolution in January, revealed some of the most horrific cases, including one man who had the wrong testicle removed.
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