Objects left inside patients in hospital 'never events'

Mistakes such as operating on the wrong body part or leaving instruments inside patients are categorised by the Department of Health as "never events"

Operations on the wrong part of the body and foreign objects left inside a patient are among more than 50 medical so-called never events in Kent's hospitals over five years.

Cases between 2018-19 and 2022-23 also included a fall from a poorly restricted window and the wrong implant or prosthesis fitted.

The NHS defines a never event as a "wholly preventable" serious incident.

The government says patient safety is a priority.

Paul Whiteing said there are no excuses for "never events" whatever the pressures on the NHS

Paul Whiteing, the chief executive of the organisation Action Against Medical Accidents, said: "We are currently seeing quite a lot of issues with delays in treatment and maternity birth issues.

"Some of this must be made worse by the NHS pressures we see, but things like never events have no excuse whatever the pressures," he added.

NHS England said examples of never events across the country in 2022/23 included the removal of both ovaries, when the plan was to remove one, a patient that had both tonsils removed instead of one, laser treatment to the wrong eye and a lumbar puncture on the wrong patient.

The Royal College of Surgeons of England said while these cases are very rare, never should mean never.

It warned that if the health system was overstretched, there was a risk mistakes would happen.

Roy Lilley says hospitals have made great efforts to reduce never events but they can't be eradicated

Roy Lilley, a former NHS trust chair in Surrey, said: "Incidents of leaving behind clamps and pieces of metal, that is really much rarer now. In every surgery there is a theatre nurse whose job it is to count the number of bits of ironmongery, clamps and scalpels that are used and count them out," he said.

"I think they are really rather misnamed as never events I'm afraid. It's inevitable that sometimes mistakes will occur", he added.

The government says the NHS delivers more than 11.5 million procedures each year, of which never events and unintended injuries make up a very small proportion, but says the Care Quality Commission can use enforcement powers to address failings.

A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "The safety of all patients is of vital importance and these unfortunate events - although rare - can have a serious physical and psychological impact."

"When 'never events' do occur, we require trusts to investigate them and take effective actions to improve safety as part of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy," they said.

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