NHS has £17m compensation invoice for operation mix-ups

Round £17m has been spent by the NHS in simply six years
coping with circumstances the place sufferers have had the improper a part of their physique
operated on, it has been claimed.

A report from HuffPost UK means that between 2012/13 and
2017/18, 202 sufferers claimed compensation from the well being service following
“improper website surgical procedure”.

That's described by the NHS as an invasive process on the
improper physique half. The time period additionally contains circumstances the place an operation was carried
out on the improper individual altogether.

In line with HuffPost UK, of the £16.98m spent by the NHS,
£11.3m was paid out to sufferers in damages. The remaining was spent on defence prices
and masking claimant prices.

HuffPost UK stories that the variety of sufferers who fall
sufferer to improper website surgical procedure every year is way larger than those that search
compensation. Between April 2017 and January 2018 alone, 175 of those circumstances
have been recorded by the well being service.

An NHS Enchancment spokesperson mentioned: “The NHS performs over
12 million surgical procedures a 12 months and whereas incidents like these are
fortunately extraordinarily uncommon, it is important that after they do occur hospitals
examine, be taught and act to minimise dangers.”