Revealed: Woman who wrongly had part of spine removed among hundreds of NHS surgical blunders
A woman who mistakenly had part of her spine removed is among hundreds of patients who have been the victim of NHS surgical blunders this year.
New figures show there were more than 400 serious surgical mistakes carried out on patients over the past year — including the incorrect organ being removed, the wrong body part being operated on or surgical instruments being left inside a patient's body. In some cases, entire operations were carried out on the wrong patient.
The Royal College of Surgeons has now warned that the NHS needs to understand what has led to the rise in incidents to stop these mistakes being repeated.
Among the victims is Gill, who was advised to have surgery on her right cervical rib after struggling with excruciating pain. But the surgeon performed the wrong operation and ended up removing portions of her vertebrae, leaving her with permanent damage to her spinal cord.
'I woke up the following morning and couldn't feel my arms and my legs and just thought 'oh my gosh what is wrong with me',' she told The Independent.
The part-time-cook was warned by doctors she might not be able to walk again and was left struggling to work and was unable to continue her active lifestyle, which included dancing. Her movements are limited and she struggles with the function of her right hand.
'The emotions were just horrendous, because when you are told you will never walk again, it's very daunting,' she added.
Through Been let Down lawyers Bond Turner, Gill was able to achieve a settlement for her pain and suffering and loss of amenity, loss of earnings, past and future loss of earnings; future housing adaptation costs and household expenses; past and future care; equipment; and rehabilitation.
According to NHS provisional data, between April 2024 and March 2025, there were 403 similar incidents known as 'never events'– serious and largely preventable surgical mistakes.
The year before, in 2023/24, there were 370 cases, while in 2022/23 there were 384. In 2021/22, 407 cases were recorded and in 2020/21 there were 364 — meaning more than 1,900 cases were reported over the past five years.
The most common type of surgical error, making up more than 45 per cent of all reported 'never events' in the last year, was 'wrong site surgery'. This includes procedures performed on the wrong patient or at the wrong site, such as operating on the wrong knee, eye, or limb.
Provisional data revealed that, out of the 185 'wrong site surgery' incidents, surgeons operated on the wrong body part in 46 cases. In 36 cases the wrong skin lesion was removed, while in nine cases patients received a surgery intended for someone else.
In just over a quarter of incidents, a surgical instrument, swab or part of a needle was left inside the patient.
About 50 patients have received the wrong implant or prosthesis, including the wrong hip or knee replacement.
Other mishaps included a transfusion of the wrong blood, medication given incorrectly and overdoses of insulin.
At most hospitals these 'never events' only happen once or twice a year, but NHS data reveals that, at the worst offending hospitals, these incidents can happen more than 10 times a year.
Over the past year there were 10 incidents at Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, 11 at University Hospital Southampton and 13 at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. All these trusts have been contacted for comment.
Paul Grundy, chief medical officer at University Hospital Southampton, said: 'We take any incidents of this nature extremely seriously and are sorry that they occurred.
'No patients suffered serious harm in any of these cases, however the Trust is committed to delivering the very best standards of care and is always transparent in the reporting of mistakes, encouraging staff to report incidents if they occur.
'On the rare occasion that we get things wrong, we carry out a thorough investigation, ensuring learnings are shared to help us improve the quality and safety of the clinical care we deliver and to minimise the risk of recurrence.'
The Royal College of Surgeons said hospitals need to take steps to understand what has led to the rise in incidents to stop these mistakes being repeated.
A spokesperson said: 'Surgical teams take the safety of patients very seriously, using the World Health Organisation's (WHO) pre and post-operative check lists to help prevent mistakes.
'When mistakes do happen, it is traumatic for both the patients and staff involved.
'NHS hospitals need to consider these figures carefully and take steps to understand what has led to the rise in incidents.
'They must learn from mistakes, in an open way, involving all theatre staff in changes to policies and procedures that can stop mistakes being repeated.'
These incidents are recorded through a mandatory reporting system to NHS England and investigations are carried out by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
In the past decade the NHS has changed how the data is measured.
Prior to 2014/15, they have only included incidents where a patient was directly harmed. But this was changed to include incidents with the potential to harm a patient – leading to a rise in the number of cases recorded. In 2017/18, the NHS made a minor change to the sub-categories it used to split never-events into different types of cases.
An NHS spokesperson said: 'NHS staff work exceptionally hard to keep patients safe and incidents like these are extremely rare, but when they do occur NHS trusts are mandated to investigate what has happened and take effective steps to learn from them and make improvements.'
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