The 2011 Dr Foster Hospital Guide, just published this week, reported:
- 125 incidences in which an object was left behind in a patient following an operation. This compares with 150 reported in 2010. The Guide still considers that this problem is under reported.
- 57 reported cases of surgery being performed on the wrong part of the body. This compares with 56 cases reported last year and 82 in 2009.
- Hundreds of operations are cancelled every year because medical notes are lost or missing.
- 11,207 incidences of accidental puncture or laceration of body parts during procedures.
- Failure by some trusts to comply with National Patient Safety Agency alerts.
Hart Brown has helped a number of claimants over the years where, for example, foreign bodies like a scalpel blade and other material have been left inside a patient after an operation. We also acted for one poor client who had the wrong hip replaced. We could go on but you get the point.
The Dr Foster Guide comments that hospital safety is probably improving but the data is still too unreliable to be sure. Clearly with over 50 operations on the wrong body part and 125 operations with retained objects there is still room for improvement. What do you think?
