Mum who had swab left inside her sues Royal Bolton Hospital

A mother who had a swab left inside her after a procedure in the maternity unit at the Royal Bolton Hospital is one of the claimants to launch legal action against Bolton NHS Foundation Trust.

The claim is one of eight registered against the Trust in April — an increase from March when three claims were registered.

Last year 25 claims against the trust were settled by the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts, which is similar to an insurance scheme. Trusts pay a premium, which works on the level of risk.

So far this year, 21 claims have been started against the trust.

Hospital bosses encourage people to talk to the trust before launching a claim.

On possible errors, they say “medicine is not an exact science” and stressed staff work “hard to keep these to a minimum”.

In April, four claims related to delayed diagnosis or a failure to diagnose a condition properly.

Another two are linked to clinical treatment and care, one is for a birth injury and one is for a retained swab.

One in June was listed as negligent surgery and another in July as inappropriate treatment.

The retained swab was one of three cases in the maternity department between July last year and January in 2013.

This article is courtesy from The Bolton News.