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Clinical negligence blunder could revive concerns over NHS care |
Concerns have again been raised about the NHS's safety regulations after a woman was left in agony because of a pair of surgical forceps left inside her.
The last annual Hospital Guide from Dr Foster's Intelligence revealed that nine UK NHS trusts had reported more than six incidents of foreign objects being left inside patients after surgery in the last year.
It has now emerged that a similar incident happened to Donna Bowett, 39, who had gone into Redditch's Alexandra Hospital last year for gall bladder surgery, but was left in "horrendous" pain afterwards.
It was not until an X-ray three months later that it was found that she had a seven-inch pair of forceps inside her body, which she then had to have another operation to remove.
"I couldn't believe something like this would happen in this day and age," Ms Bowett commented, adding that she is seeking compensation from Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust for clinical negligence.
The trust apologised unreservedly for the error.
In May 2009, it was revealed that 54-year-old David Bould was to receive £4,000 in compensation from North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust after a pin was left inside his body following hip resurfacing surgery.
Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp, a Clinical Negligence Specialist at Kester Cunningham John, said: "These errors may sound relatively trivial, but in another case a surgical sponge was left in an abdominal wound, resulting in devastating consequences including an intractable wound infection, four additional operations to date and the loss of employment and severe depression. These are easily avoided errors and would not occur if basic training and procedures were followed."
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