Man given a cystoscopy had only gone in to have consultant chat

NHS doctors operated on the wrong body part of nearly 100 patients during a six-month period last year, it has been revealed.

They were among 237 catastrophic mistakes – known as ‘never events’ – admitted by hospitals from April to September.

One man who walked in for a chat with his consultant was given an internal bladder examination called a cystoscopy – where a camera is inserted into the tube which carries urine out of the body.

It was only when a man of the same name asked reception when his cystoscopy would take place that staff realised their mistake.

In another blunder, a woman who went in for a hysterectomy came round from anaesthetic to learn that doctors had removed her right ovary in error.

In a further alarming case, doctors carried out laser surgery on the wrong patient while the intended recipient sat waiting for their appointment. The errors, which also saw medics mixing up X-rays, were logged as ‘never events’ because they should not happen again.

The tranche of mistakes were released under Freedom of Information laws.

They included 98 cases of surgery on the wrong part of the body and 65 incidents of foreign objects being left inside patients’ bodies by mistake.

Separate statistics show the NHS faced a £15.7 million compensation bill to settle cases where bungling surgeons made errors.

Last night Matthew Tuff, president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, said: ‘Never events are just that – appalling failings in NHS patient care that should never have happened.

‘Some victims will require compensation to help them recover and get their lives back on track, so far as possible.

‘It is essential that injured patients have access to justice.’

In one case a sciatica patient was on the operating table when she queried why she had been injected with local anaesthetic in her ‘good leg’. Medics then checked their paperwork and were, luckily, able to complete the operation on the correct leg.

One patient had a tube inserted through his bladder to try to eliminate a kidney stone, but when he got home from the operation he saw in his discharge letter that the surgeon did the procedure

on the wrong side of his body. He was called back into hospital where medics carried out the operation on the correct side, as well as remove the stent that had been implanted on the wrong side.

A glaucoma sufferer had a laser procedure on the wrong eye, while surgeons removed the wrong adrenal gland from another patient.

The dossier also revealed two cases where surgeons carried out the wrong type of operation on people who were suffering from problems with their hands.

An NHS spokesman said: ‘The NHS has robust procedures in place so that when unacceptable incidents happen, they are fully investigated and effective action taken to those impacted.

‘The NHS continues to strengthen patient safety through training, clear standards and measures that make it easier for patients and families to raise concerns about care.’