Over 1,000 ‘never events’ recorded in England in last four years

Over 1,000 ‘never events’ have been recorded in the NHS in England over the last four years, according to an analysis from the Press Association.

A ‘never event’ is classified as an error that can seriously harm a patient and should never occur, and those documented over the past four years include a testicle removed instead of a cyst, fallopian tubes removed instead of an appendix, a kidney removed instead of an ovary and objects left inside patients’ bodies.

The analysis found a consistent picture, with 290 never events occurring from April 2012 to March 2013, 338 never events from April 2013 to March 2014 and 306 never events from April 2014 to March 2015.

So far 254 never events have ben recorded from April 2015 to the end of December 2015, with the total expected to increase as more reports come in from the start of 2016.

Responding to the analysis, Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: “It is a disgrace that such supposed ‘never’ incidents 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 in the NHS.

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