Hundreds of NHS patients have suffered due to faults that should never have happened
Accidental circumcision, surgery on the wrong testicle and needles left in bodies — a new report has revealed a host of NHS blunders.
Almost 235 patients suffered from “never events” between the 1st April and 30th September across the UK this year.
Never events are described as “serious, largely preventable patient safety incidents”.
During the six month period, there were 120 incidents of doctors operating on the wrong body part, 48 incidents of surgical tools left in the patients’ body and five accounts of medication administered through the wrong route.
Portsmouth Hospitals NHS trust, who run Queen Alexandra Hospital, reported three “never events” including wrong site surgery, retained foreign object post procedure, and wrong implant.
University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust had the highest recorded “never events” in Hampshire, with five in total, three being wrong site surgery.
NHS Improvement said: “Providers are encouraged to learn from mistakes and organisations that report a Never Event is expected to conduct its own investigation so it can learn and take action on the underlying causes.”
Nationally, six patients had surgery that was meant for another patient, four patients were administered wrong levels of medication while one had the wrong tooth removed.
