‘Sorry for surgical errors’

NINE NEVER EVENTS – ITEMS LEFT IN BODY, WRONG PART OPERATED ON OR MEDICATION ERROR – REPORTED

HOSPITAL staff in Leicester left foreign objects in the bodies of four patients after operations in the past year, according to new figures.

Surgery was performed on the wrong part of the body on four other patients and one had “medication administered by the wrong route”.

A report published by the NHS revealed there were 407 such never events at hospitals across the UK between April 2021 and March 2022.

A never event is defined a serious incident that would have been prevented if hospital staff followed the safety procedures properly.

The nine never events at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust was one of the highest totals in the country.

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust was the highest at 11, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Sandwell and West Birmingham University Hospitals NHS Trust both reported 10, while Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust also reported nine.

Andrew Furlong, medical director at Leicester’s hospitals said: “Our staff are working exceptionally hard to provide safe care to patients but there are occasions where never events do unfortunately occur.

“When they do, our priority is to respond quickly, understand what has happened and work alongside families to ensure we share learning that prevents similar events in the future.

“We apologise to any patients and families affected by these events.”

It is understood patients are offered necessary support when an incident happens and all never events are reported to the trust board.

Nationally vaginal swabs were left in patients 32 times and surgical swabs were left in sewn-up wounds 21 times.

Some of the other objects left inside patients included part of a pair of wire cutters, part of a scalpel blade and the bolt from surgical forceps.

Part of a drill bit was left inside a patient’s body three times over the year. One woman had her ovaries removed by mistake when the plan was to conserve them, while six patients had injections in the wrong eye.

Overall, there were 171 cases of wrong site surgery. An implant was placed in the wrong hip 12 times, the wrong knee 11 times and patients were given air instead of oxygen 13 times.

The wrong blood was transfused into seven people and one patient had a procedure to their breast that they had not consented to. The data does not show which trusts reported these.

The figures are provisional as 29 other cases across the UK that fall under the “serious incidents” category are still being looked into by trusts and might be classed as a never event once the investigations are completed.

An NHS spokesman said: “While these events are extremely rare, and NHS staff are working hard to provide safe care to patients, it is important events are reported and learned from so they can be prevented in the future.”