Wrong North Tees and Hartlepool patient had invasive procedure

The correct patient received the treatment later

A patient underwent an "invasive" medical procedure intended for someone else, it has emerged.

The "diagnostic examination" was a cardiology procedure and staff realised the treatment request had been made for the wrong patient.

The patient was told and "suffered no adverse effect", North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust said

The procedure in January was initially recorded as a so-called never event and later escalated to a serious incident.

A trust spokesman said: "We can confirm that earlier this year a day-case cardiology procedure was carried out on a patient who did not require this particular diagnostic investigation.

"We have fully apologised to the patient who has suffered no adverse effect from the procedure."

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it had been a cardiology procedure, but would not elaborate any further.

'Not blame individuals'

The correct patient received the treatment later.

The trust operates the University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton and the University Hospital of Hartlepool. It is not known at which site the mix-up occurred.

"Our trust culture is to take any such incident very seriously but not to lay blame on individuals," the spokesman said.

"We always seek to learn and thoroughly investigate to ensure we develop robust processes to prevent a repeat occurrence."

The NHS defines serious incidents as where the "potential for learning is so great or the consequences to patients, families and carers, staff or organisations are so significant, that they warrant using additional resources to mount a comprehensive response".

Never events are categorised by the Department of Health as so serious they should never occur.