New Government Data reveals 326 NHS "Never Events"
Industry News : Clinical Negligence News : 8 November 2012
New data showing the total amount of NHS ‘never events’ over the last two years has been published by the Government. The data revealed that the vast majority of these mistakes had been surgical, with 161 foreign objects being left inside patients after an operation and 70 people having had surgery on the wrong part of their body.
The 2011/12 data reported a total of 326 never events, which are defined as serious, inexcusable patient safety incidents which should never happen.
The most frequently reported mishaps to health authorities included 70 operations taking place on the wrong part of the body, 161 patients retaining foreign objects post-operation, 41 incidents involving the wrong implant or prosthesis and 23 incidents of misplaced nasogastric tubes.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has reportedly said that transparency saves lives and improves care.
"The NHS treats a million people every 36 hours, and we know that the vast majority of these patients have excellent care. But the NHS needs to do more to really tackle these events", Mr Hunt said.
The head of the medical negligence team at Boyes Turner said of the report, “326 "never events" cause misery and injury to 326 patients and their families in circumstances where the NHS has declared they should simply not happen in the absence of gross negligence. These are by definition serious patient safety incidents and the NHS has to clean up its act or it deserves to lose the trust of the public if it remains unable to do so. Spending what we do on the NHS, we are entitled to assume that acts of gross negligence will simply not happen.”