UK patients poisoned, maimed by NHS blunders

Shocking figures have disclosed that terrible blunders committed by the National Health Service (NHS) have left scores of patients maimed, injured or poisoned in Britain this year.

NHS England figures show there were 148 blunders – called “never events” – from April to September. The negligent errors included having swabs, needles and medical equipment left inside patients, and administration of wrong drugs, the Daily Express reported on Friday.

The numbers reveal that there were 69 cases where foreign objects were left inside patients, including 11 cases of surgical swabs, one patient who had wires left inside and another patient who was left with a needle in their body.

Moreover, 37 patients had the wrong part of their body operated on or treated. This included four operations on the wrong tooth, an operation on the wrong toe, an injection in the wrong eye as well as removal of the wrong fallopian tube during an ectopic pregnancy, which rendered the female patient infertile.

NHS England findings also point to a case where a patient died because of the NHS personnel’s failure to monitor oxygen levels. In another example, one woman lost her life after she bled profusely following a planned Caesarean section.

Seven patients were harmed after they were given the wrong dose of chemotherapy. Five died or suffered severe harm after feeding tubes were inserted incorrectly by the NHS staff.

Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had the highest number of “never events,” standing at four.

“Never events are incidents that are completely unacceptable. However rare these cases are, never should mean never,” said Professor Norman Williams, the president of the Royal College of Surgeons.

A safety task force has been assigned to undertake an in-depth review of the NHS blunders, and is projected to release its report in the new year.