Call for monthly breakdown of surgical items ‘lost’ inside patients

The HSE must publish a monthly hospital breakdown providing full details of when surgical items are ‘lost’ or wrongly left inside people if it genuinely wants to improve patient safety.

Leading advocacy group, the Irish Patients’ Association, issued the call for action after figures revealed in today’s Irish Examiner showed that the errors occur every 9.5 days.

Freedom of Information Act details obtained after months of delays confirm that, from 2005 to 2011, 267 patients had items wrongly left inside them after surgery.