Surgeons leave foreign objects in patients after bungled ops

DOCTORS have operated on the wrong parts of bodies and left foreign objects in patients repeatedly – causing severe harm in one case.

There were six so-called ‘never’ incidents – because they are never supposed to happen – in Wolverhampton hospitals last year.

There were also four ‘wrong site incidents’ – operating on the wrong part of the body – in radiology, obstetrics, dental and trauma and orthopaedic surgery.

The two ‘retained foreign objects’ blunders happened during procedures for gynaecology and in an emergency department.

The horrifying blunders will be discussed by the council’s Health Scrutiny committee this week.

Presenting a report to the committee Jeremy Vanes, chairman of The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, will outline the serious mistakes which caused harm to three patients, including one ‘severe’ case.

Last year the local NHS trust carried out 28,035 operations over its three hospital sites.

All the incidents happened between April 2017 and March 2018.

The written report to the trust states: “During the financial year April 2017 to March 2018, six never incidents have been reported.

“Of these incidents three (50 per cent) did not cause patient harm and one incident has been identified to have caused low patient harm, one incident has been identified to have caused moderate patient harm and one incident caused severe harm however we acknowledge the distress that can be caused regardless of the level of harm graded.”

The hospital trust declined to say if any of the mistakes were life-threatening.

Dr Jonathan Odum, Medical Director at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, said: “The trust treats all ‘never events’ very seriously. We are clear that never not happen at all.

“In all of the cases the patients and their families were fully informed and we have shared all outcomes with them. Following the investigations a number of lessons have been learnt and shared.

“While we are clear that never events should not happen, they are extremely rare. There were 28,035 operations carried out at our hospitals last year and six never events.” events should