LIB DEMS REVEAL 948 BOTCHED OPERATIONS IN WEST OF SCOTLAND HOSPITALS

Written by Ross Finnie on Wed 5th Aug 2009

LIB DEMS REVEAL 948 BOTCHED OPERATIONS IN WEST OF SCOTLAND HOSPITALS

West of Scotland Liberal Democrat MSP Ross Finnie has revealed that there have been 948 surgical errors in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Hospitals over the last five years.

Answers to Parliament Questions received by the Liberal Democrats showed that there have been 5,514 surgical errors in Scottish Hospitals ever the last five years, they also showed that 3,106 patients had organs accidentally cut or punctured during surgery. In NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde 450 patients had organs accidentally cut or punctured during surgery over the last five years.

Commenting Mr Finnie said:

"Most patients will accept that undergoing operations is not without a certain element of risk. But 948 operations have been botched in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde hospitals over the past five years.

"These statistics may include minor errors, but our figures show that 450 patients have incurred damage to their organs as a result.

"Patients going into hospital for surgery have enough to think about without worrying about serious surgical mistakes like this.

"NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde must be able to reassure patients that they take steps to minimise the risk of surgical errors.

"This means openly learning from any mistakes in the past and making sure that surgeons and their medical teams are not being pressured to take dangerous risks to meet waiting times.

"Meeting central government targets must not come at the risk of patient safety."

Ends

Notes to Editors

The text of Mr Finnie's Parliamentary Questions and the answers he received is below:

3 August 2009

Index Heading: Health and Wellbeing

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many surgical errors have occurred in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board and type of error.

(S3W-25720)

Ms Nicola Sturgeon :

There is no comprehensive list of diagnoses available which can reliably identify all surgical errors. The table below shows the number of cases recorded in Scotland where a diagnosis of surgical error can be inferred using available information.

Acute NHS hospital (non-obstetric, non-psychiatric) inpatient/day case discharges;

number of hospital episodes 1 with a diagnosis of surgical error 2:

years ending 31 March 2004 to 2008

Years ending 31 March

NHS board of residence 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

All areas 1050 1169 1100 1039 1156

Ayrshire & Arran 90 88 104 81 70

Borders 20 19 12 25 10

Dumfries & Galloway 83 103 71 79 83

Fife 126 142 143 123 192

Forth Valley 53 39 26 49 35

Grampian 86 119 119 125 104

Greater Glasgow & Clyde 213 223 194 126 192

Highland 67 75 88 79 86

Lanarkshire 32 69 58 48 68

Lothian 235 246 228 227 254

Tayside 30 25 37 51 39

Island boards 3 7 15 16 22 18

Other 4 8 6 4 4 5

1. May include multiple episodes for the same patient.

2. Cases have been selected using the International Classification of diseases 10th revision

(ICD10) codes

Y60.0 Unintentional cut, puncture, perforation or haemorrhage during surgical operation

Y61.0 Foreign body accidentally left in body during surgical operation

Y62.0 Failure of sterile precautions during surgical operations

Y65.2 Failure in suture or ligature during surgical operations

Y65.5 Performance of inappropriate operation

T81.2 Accidental puncture and laceration during procedure not elsewhere classified

T81.5 Foreign body accidentally left in body cavity or operation wound following a procedure

Acute hospital discharge summaries can record up to six diagnoses for each episode, a main

diagnosis and up to five additional or supplementary diagnoses. All six

positions have been examined to produce the figures shown in the table

3. Comprises Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles NHS boards

4. Outwith Scotland and not known

Source: SMR01 acute hospital inpatient and day case discharges

3 August 2009

Index Heading: Health and Wellbeing

Ross Finnie (West of Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients have had organs accidentally punctured or cut during surgery in each of the last five years, broken down by NHS board.

(S3W-25723)

Ms Nicola Sturgeon :

The information requested is shown in the table below.

Acute hospital (non-obstetric, non-psychiatric) inpatient/day case discharges; number of

patients 1 with a diagnosis of unintentional cut, puncture, perforation or haemorrhage 2

during surgical operations: years ending 31 March 2004 to 2008

Years ending 31 March

NHS board of residence 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

All areas 625 640 602 605 634

Ayrshire & Arran 54 49 67 53 44

Borders 12 10 10 15 4

Dumfries & Galloway 44 49 42 42 38

Fife 85 90 85 80 88

Forth Valley 25 18 13 23 18

Grampian 59 72 71 68 64

Greater Glasgow & Clyde 107 98 82 69 94

Highland 42 45 44 49 54

Lanarkshire 21 35 24 26 42

Lothian 143 144 129 136 151

Tayside 21 19 25 31 19

Island boards 3 6 9 8 10 15

Other 4 6 2 2 3 3

1. Individual patients are only counted once within any given year.

Patients may be counted more than once across years.

2. Cases have been selected using the International Classification of diseases 10th revision

(ICD10) codes

Y60.0 Unintentional cut, puncture, perforation or haemorrhage during surgical operation

T81.2 Accidental puncture and laceration during procedure not elsewhere classified

Acute hospital discharge summaries can record up to six diagnoses for each episode, a main

diagnosis and up to five additional or supplementary diagnoses. All six

positions have been examined to produce the figures shown in the table

3. Comprises Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles NHS boards

4. Outwith Scotland and not known

Source: SMR01 acute hospital inpatient and day case discharges