Surgeons admit botching three operations a day in Scots hospitals

Published on Wednesday 5 August 2009 22:03

MORE than five thousand "botched" operations have been carried out in Scotland's hospitals over the past five years, it emerged yesterday.

The litany of errors, which were branded "totally unacceptable" by patients' representatives, shows that more than 3,000 patients had organs accidentally cut or punctured during surgery, prompting warnings that medical staff are facing pressure to take risks in order to meet waiting times.

The figures, obtained by Ross Finnie, the Liberal Democrat health spokesman, reveal a series of mistakes, including unintentional cuts during operations, and failure of sterile precautions during surgery.

The errors also include instances where "foreign bodies" were accidentally left in a patient's body during surgery, and an "inappropriate" operation being carried out.

Mr Finnie, who obtained the statistics through parliamentary answers, said: "Most patients will accept that undergoing operations is not without a certain element of risk. But 5,514 operations have been botched in Scottish hospitals over the past five years. These statistics may include minor errors, but our figures show that over 3,000 patients have incurred damage to their organs as a result."

Margaret Watt, chairwoman of the Scotland Patients Association, said: "These figures are totally unacceptable. I think eyes are being taken off the ball here, and we need to know if surgeons are being asked to work too many hours, or whether they're just not concentrating.

"Statistics like this raise more questions than answers. How many fatalities were there? What is the extent of the organ damage suffered by patients? And what is the breakdown of individual surgeons' mistakes?

"It is important where a surgeon does make a mistake, there is a regulatory process where they are taken off duty while an investigation takes place."

The figures, released by health secretary Nicola Sturgeon, set out cases in Scotland from 2004 to 2008 where surgical error can be "inferred" using available information.

They show that NHS Lothian had the highest number of incidents every year over the period, compared with other health boards. There were 254 errors in the region last year, the highest annual tally recorded, and, overall, there were 1,190 errors over the five years.

Dr Charles Swainson, medical director at NHS Lothian, said the statistics were unreliable, because of the way it records data.

NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde had the second-highest total, with 948 errors, with NHS Fife recording the third-highest figure, 726.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said 1.2 million surgical procedures were carried out in 2008.

"While any surgical error is regrettable, these figures must be seen in the context of the vast majority of procedures being carried out safely," she added.