DETAILS of medical blunders by the region’s hospital trusts have emerged in a national report.

The organisation NHS Improvement provisionally outlined 314 serious, largely preventable safety incidents, between April 16 and December 31, last year, such as surgery equipment being left inside patients and operations on the wrong part of the body, including the brain.

Seven each so-called ‘never events’ were logged at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – the joint second highest figure in the country.

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust reported six instances of “wrong site surgery” and one of a wrong implant/prosthesis.

It said: “While there are risks associated with healthcare, one never event is too many and by definition they should not happen.

“If they do, we take this extremely seriously, as do our clinical teams.”

Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust reported four instances of wrong site surgery, two where foreign objects were left in a patient’s body following a procedure and one where medication was administered via a wrong route.

A spokesman said the trust performed about 80,000 surgical procedures each year and the incidence of never events was considerably below what would be expected of an organisation of its size and complexity.

The report listed an incident at one NHS provider where a patient had a procedure intended for someone else.

Other examples of never events included two falls from windows and a scalding in which a patient’s feet was burnt. The wrong blood was also transfused in one operation.

The most common objects left inside patients were swabs, but they also included a needle, part of a drill bit and specimen retrieval bags.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said the data should “ring alarm bells”.

She said: “There are no excuses for failing to follow medical protocols as it could be the difference between life and death.

“While patients understand that medical professionals and support staff are under pressure and have increasing workloads, this is not an excuse for allowing never-events to occur.”

NHS Improvement said: “Any organisation that reports a never event is expected to conduct its own investigation so it can learn and take action on the underlying causes.”javascript:void(0) Among other NHS providers in the region, North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust logged one example of wrong site surgery, while the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust reported one wrong site surgery and a misplaced gastric tube.

The Tees Valley Treatment centre, in Middlesbrough, had one incident of wrong site surgery, as did the Nuffield Health Tees private hospital, in Stockton.