Woman who wrongly had part of spine removed among hundreds of NHS surgical blunders
A woman who accidentally removed some of her spine is among hundreds of patients who are victims of NHS surgical blunder this year.
New figures show that there were more than 400 serious surgical errors on patients last year – the wrong organ has been removed, the wrong body or surgical instruments left in a patient’s body. In some cases, all operations were performed on the wrong patient.
The Royal Surgeons College warned NHS to understand what has increased in events to stop the recurrence of these mistakes.
Among the victims, Gill is also recommended to have surgery in the right cervical rib after fighting unbearable pain. However, the surgeon performed the wrong operation and took out the portion of his vertebrae and permanently damaged his spinal cord.
“I woke up the next morning and I couldn’t feel my arms and legs, and I just thought ‘oh my God, my problem’ he said Independent.
Part -time cooking was warned by doctors who may not be able to walk again And he struggled to work and could not continue his active lifestyle with dance. His movements are limited and struggles with the function of his right hand.
“Emotions were only terrible, because when you were told that you will never walk again, it is very intimidating,” he added.
Gill, who disappointed the lawyers Bond Turner, was able to achieve a solution for pain and pain and comfort, loss of earnings, loss of past and future earnings; Future housing adaptation costs and household expenses; past and future care; equipment; and rehabilitation.
According to NHS temporary data, there were 403 similar events known as “Never Event ,, between April 2024 and March 2025 – serious and largely prevented surgical errors.
A year ago, there were 370 cases at 2023/24, and there were 384 in 2022/23. 407 cases were recorded in 2021/2 and 364 in 2020/21 – so more than 1,900 cases have been reported in the last five years.
The most common type of surgical error that made up more than 45 percent of the “never events” reported last year was the “wrong field surgery”. This includes procedures such as working on the wrong patient or on the wrong knee, on the wrong knee, eye or limb.
Temporary data revealed that 185 “wrong field surgery” events, surgeons operate in 46 cases in the wrong body. In 36 cases, the wrong skin lesion was removed, while nine cases were given an operation against someone else.
In more than one quarter of the events, a surgical instrument, SWAB or part of a needle was left in the patient.
Approximately 50 patients received the wrong implant or prosthesis, including the wrong hip or knee prosthesis.
Other mishaps include false blood transfusion, incorrect drugs, and an overdose of insulin.
In most hospitals, these “Never Event” occurs only once or twice a year, but NHS data reveals that these events may be more than 10 times a year in the worst disturbing hospitals.
Last year, there were 10 at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, 11 at Southampton University Hospital and 13 university hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. For the comment, all these confidences were contacted.
Paul Grundy, Chief Medical Officer of Southampton University Hospital, said, uz We take this quality events very seriously and we are sorry to occur.
“No patient has suffered serious damage to any of these cases, but trust is determined to present the best maintenance standards and is always transparent in reporting of errors and encourages events to report if the staff occurs.
“On the rare occasion that we misunderstand things, we are conducting a comprehensive research that enables learning to be shared to help us improve the quality and security of clinical care and minimize the risk of relapse.”
Royal Surgeons College said that hospitals should take steps to see that events have increased the recurrence of these mistakes.
“Surgical teams take the safety of patients very seriously to help prevent errors by using the control lists of the World Health Organization (WHO) before and after surgery.
“When errors occur, it is traumatic for both patients and staff.
“NHS hospitals should carefully handle these figures and take steps to understand that it leads to an increase in events.
“From mistakes, they should clearly learn all theater staff by containing changes in policies and procedures that can stop the repetition of errors.”
These events are recorded in NHS through a compulsory reporting system to the UK and the research is carried out by the maintenance quality commission (CQC).
In the last decade, NHS has changed the measurement of data.
Before 2014/15, they included only events that only one patient was directly damaged. However, this was changed to include events with the potential to harm a patient and led to an increase in the number of cases recorded. In 2017/18, NHS has never made a small change in the subcategories it used to divide the activities into different cases.
A NHS spokesman said: “NHS personnel work extremely hard to keep patients safe and such events are very rare, but NHS trusts are mandatory to investigate and take effective steps to learn and make improvements from them.”
