There have been nearly 100 cases of a foreign object—including drill bits—left inside NHS patients by mistake, according to a new analysis.
Some 407 “Never Events”—things so serious they should never happen—were recorded in the NHS in England from April 2021 until March 2022, figures examined by the PA news agency show.
This is the equivalent of nearly eight every week and is an increase from the same period the year before, which had 364 in total.
Overall, there were 98 cases of a foreign object being left inside a patient after a procedure.
Vaginal swabs were left in patients 32 times and surgical swabs were left 21 times….