NHS op blunders hit nine patients a week

NINE patients a week are suffering from so- called ‘never event’ medical blunders on the NHS.

Some 629 serious mistakes took place in hospitals between April 2018 and July this year, official NHS data reveals.

The errors are officially called ‘never events’ because they simply should never happen.

Cases, which effectively hit nine patients a week, included 270 ‘wrong site’ surgeries – where medics got the intended organ or limb muddled up.

Chelsie Thomas, 26, had surgery after suffering a dangerous ectopic pregnancy in March last year. An ultrasound showed that a fertilised egg had become implanted in her right fallopian tube.

But surgeons at Walsall Manor Hospital, in the West Midlands, removed her healthy left tube instead. Miss Thomas said: ‘I have not only had unnecessary surgery but have been left unable to have more children naturally.’

Another 127 patients had ‘foreign objects’ left inside them after operations, including scalpels, needles and patches.

One patient had the wrong toe amputated, two men were mistakenly circumcised and a woman had a lump removed from the wrong breast. Six women had ovaries removed in error during hysterectomies, plunging them into menopause. Medics also transfused the wrong type of blood to six patients.

Several patients had procedures intended for someone else, including colonoscopies and lumbar punctures. Other patients were given ordinary air rather than pure oxygen. Individuals even fell from poorly- secured windows. Barts Health NHS Trust in London had the most never events – with 17 over the period, including eight cases of wrong site surgery.

Professor Derek Alderson, from the Royal College of Surgeons, said: ‘Never events are exceptionally traumatic for patients and their families. They can also be devastating for the surgeons and healthcare staff involved.

‘It is vital that all theatre staff use – and are involved in – the World Health Organisation preand post-operative checklist process as these have been designed to help prevent serious incidents.’ Rachel Power, from advocacy group The Patients Association, said: ‘People who suffer harm because of mistakes can suffer serious physical and psychological effects for the rest of their lives.’

An NHS spokesman said: ‘The NHS cares for over half a billion patients a year. It is vital that, when [never events] do happen, hospitals investigate, learn and act to minimise risks.

‘The patient safety strategy published in July gives NHS staff even more support to do their job.’

‘Amputated the wrong toe’