Hundreds of incidents so serious they should “never” happen have taken place in the NHS in just nine months.
Fresh figures from the NHS have revealed the frequency of so-called “Never Events” ranging from medical equipment being left inside patients to procedures on the wrong side of the brain.
Statistics published by NHS Improvement outlined 314 incidents took place between April 16 and December 31 last year – more than one a day.
Referred to as Never Events, the NHS described them as “serious, largely preventable” safety breaches, and differ from other grave events as just “even a single Never Event acts as a red flag”, highlighting potentially fatal failings.
The figures come as Jeremy Hunt comes under renewed pressure of the buckling state of the health service.
For full article see The Independent 11 February 2017