Hospitals reveal hundreds of preventable medical blunders

Posted 12/05/2013

Hospital Trusts have admitted to 750 preventable mistakes over the past four years, which include foreign objects being left inside patients and cases of surgery on the wrong body part.The Department of Health refer to these incidents as ‘never events’. NHS England has stated that the figures are too high and they have introduced new measures to heighten patient safety.Sharon Allison, a Medical Injury lawyer at Ashtons Legal says: “These figures are very concerning, especially in light of the changes the Government has recently bought in which make it harder for victims of medical accidents to claim compensation for their injuries.The funding changes were introduced to address the perceived compensation culture and to try to stem legal costs in bringing a claim. The Master of the Rolls recently confirmed that there is no evidence of a compensation culture which is often incorrectly reported by the media.These figures only represent a small proportion of the medical incidents which take place each year. Despite the changes to funding medical injury claims, at Ashtons Legal, we remain committed to fighting for justice for our clients and securing much needed compensation for injuries, which are often life changing.”

For further information and advice, please contact our Medical Injury team.