Concern over medical 'never events' in region

A TEESSIDE hospital trust says direct comparisons with its North-East counterparts are unfair when it comes to the number of medical mistakes committed by staff.

- By STUART ARNOLD

Analysis of official data shows in the past five years South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust recorded 27 so-called 'never events.

This was 68% higher than the next nearest acute trust, South Tyneside and Sunderland, where 16 were recorded over the same period.

South Tees' figure was also three times higher than the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, which logged nine never events.

Never events serious incidents that are deemed to be wholly preventable often occur in surgery and can include surgical items being left behind in the body mistakenly, or even the wrong body parts being operated on.

Other errors commonly categorised in this way include incorrect implants or prostheses.

The trust said that as one of the biggest such organisations in the region it carried out more than a million patient appointments a year.

It also advised that the never event data should be considered in terms of what proportion of incidents had occurred per 1,000 occupied bed days.