Croydon Health Services NHS Trust are making a number of changes to their procedures after eight patients were victims of serious mistakes in hospital – including surgery on the wrong part of their body.

At Croydon University Hospital in the past four years there were three incidents of foreign objects being retained in the body post operations, two incidents of performing surgery at the wrong place, two incidents of wrong implants being used and one incident where a mother died following childbirth.

The eight incidents, known as never events, occurred within Croydon Health Services.

A never event are incidents which are so serious they should never have happened.

Examples include operating on the wrong part of the body or leaving instruments inside patients.

Zoe Packman, Director of Nursing at Croydon Health Services, said a number of actions are being taken to make sure the incidents aren’t repeated.

She said they are ensuring surgical safety checklists are always completed for surgical procedures, double checking procedure for implants before they are use, detailed recording of supplies used during surgery and retraining staff.

She said: “Never events happen rarely and although most patients will make a good recovery, we must understand what needs to be done to stop these incidents happening again. “We always investigate and talk to the patient and their family about what has happened.

“Every serious incident is reported to the Patient Safety Team at NHS England and a summary of lessons learned and actions taken are seen by the Trust Board.

“We are constantly asking ourselves what it is we do well and how can we do better so that patients receive the highest possible care wherever they are treated and these events are no exception.”