Medical swab left inside mum-to-be after surgery at Queen’s Hospital, Romford.

Lizzie Dearden, Reporter Wednesday, February 20, 2013
3.00 PM

A medical swab was left inside a mum-to-be who had surgery in Queen’s Hospital to prevent premature birth in November.

The mother suffered “no ill effects” according to Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT), which runs the hospital in Rom Valley Way, Romford.

A month later a swab was left inside a woman at King George Hospital, in Goodmayes, after she gave birth.

According to a board report for NHS North East London and the City, doctors had delivered her baby using forceps in December.

The incidents are on a government list of “never events” – preventable serious safety incidents that should never happen.

A BHRUT spokesman said: “We take never events very seriously. We have carried out detailed investigations into both of these cases and arranged an external review. The women concerned suffered no ill effects and have been fully involved in the investigations. Unfortunately this is a persistent problem across the whole of the NHS. We are using detailed evidence from NHS London into similar cases across the capital to establish new systems.”

The trust is reviewing processes for swab and instrument counts and improving education and training.