Extent of preventable surgery errors revealed

The 24 errors came to light via a Freedom of Information request about never events – events that should never happen if correct procedures are followed – in Wales.

Between 2009 and 2012 there were 10 cases of foreign objects being left inside the body, eight of surgery on the wrong part of the body and five times when tubes were mistakenly inserted into people’s lungs.

Welsh Liberal Democrats leader Kirsty Williams said she was concerned by what her party had uncovered.

According to the figures, half of the serious incidents occurred in the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.

Among them included a craniotomy incision on the right hand side of a patient’s skull – when it should have been carried out on the left.