The worst NHS hospitals in Britain to have surgery at

A recent BBC report has revealed that across NHS hospitals there have been more than 750 ‘never events’. These are medical accidents which have serious implications but which are also quite preventable and therefore should never happen.

These ‘never events’ include:

•    Retained foreign object post operation – where surgical sponges, swabs or utensils are left behind in a patient.
•    Wrong site surgery – when the wrong body part is operated on.
•    Misplaced naso-or oro-gastric tubes – where a tube going from the nose or mouth to the stomach is inserted in such a way that it is misplaced.
•    Wrong implant/ prosthesis – the wrong implant of prosthesis being used.
•    Air embolism – when an air bubble gets into the circulatory system causing obstructions.
 
The worst offending hospitals listed by the BBC are below:
 
Barts Health NHS Trust - 11 errors, four cases of retained foreign object post-operation, three wrong site surgery errors, two misplaced naso-or oro-gastric tubes, one wrong implant/prosthesis and one air embolism.
 
Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust had 15 errors, eight of these were wrong site surgery and there were an additional four cases of retained foreign objects and two cases where the wrong implant/prosthesis were used, additionally there was also a misplaced naso-or oro-gastric tube error.
 
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust had 11 errors, including eight retained foreign object post-operation, two were wrong site surgery and one cases of a misplaced naso-or oro-gastric tube.

Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust had 11 incidents, being being retained foreign object post-operation, two were misplaced naso-or oro-gastric tubes, and they had one case of maladministration of Insulin, and also one wrong site surgery.
 
Nottingham university hospitals NHS Trust had 13 errors, eight retained surgical objects post-operation, four wrong site surgeries and one wrong route administration of chemotherapy. 

Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust had 14 errors, six being retained foreign bodies, four cases of the wrong body part being operated on, two patients had misplaced naso-or oro-gastric tubes, maladministration of insulin to one patient and maladministration of potassium fluids to another.
 
West Hertfordshire Hospitals had 11 errors in total, five were wrong site surgery, five were retained foreign objects and they had one case of a misplaced naso/oro-gastric tube.

The United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust had 12 errors, four of which were objects left in after surgery, three were wrong site surgery, two were wrong implants, two were transfusions of incompatible blood types and the maladministration of potassium fluids to one patient.