Patients Association calls for ‘Never’ incidents to cease

18 Feb 2016 11:26 AM

Katherine Murphy, Chief Executive of the Patients Association, responded to Press Association statistics lifted from NHS England data, which reportedly found that over 1,100 patients have suffered from very serious hospital errors over the past four years.

“It is a disgrace that incidents which are supposed ‘never’ to happen are still so prevalent. With all the systems and procedures that are in place within the NHS, how are such basic, avoidable mistakes still happening? There is clearly a lack of learning across the NHS, or even within individual Trusts. 

“These 1,100 patients have been very badly let down by poor processes and utter carelessness. It is especially unforgivable to operate on the wrong organ, and many such mistakes can never be rectified, leaving patients harmed for life.”

View related documents: https://www.england.nhs.uk/patientsafety/never-events/

Notes to Editors: 

The figures seen by the Patients Association suggest that the "never events" - mistakes so serious they should never happen - included more than 400 people who suffered due to "wrong site surgery", and more than 420 have also had "foreign objects" left inside them after operations (including gauzes, swabs, drill guides, scalpel blades and needles).

The Patients Association is an independent national health and social care charity established over 52 years ago, which has a long history of campaigning to ensure that the voice of patients is heard within the UK Health and Social care system.

For further information please contact Deborah McDonald, Director of Operations & Marketing, on 020 8423 9111, or email deborah@patients-association.com or call 07779 004898.

Visit our website at www.patients-association.org.uk