- Medical blunder took place during keyhole surgery on an unnamed patient
- One surgical team went for a tea break and another team took over
- Equipment called endoractor left behind before second op to remove it
- NHS Lanarkshire says it now recommends avoiding unnecessary staff changeover during surgery
Kate Pickles For Mailonline
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Bungling NHS staff left a sponge inside a patient’s body when they went for a tea break during surgery.
The medical blunder, which took place during keyhole surgery, has been disclosed in a report by NHS Lanarkshire.
The mistake left the unnamed patient in ‘worsening pain’ after the operation and was only resolved when the sponge was removed in a second surgery.
The patient was left with a surgical sponge inside their body after there was a changeover of staff midway through the procedure for ‘tea relief’ (file photo)
It is not clear when the botched surgery took place, but the mistake has been blamed on a breakdown in communication when workers were swapped around for ‘tea relief’.
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According to documents obtained through Freedom of Information, NHS officials have come up with several recommendations following the incident, including warnings that staff changeovers during surgery should be avoided.
The staff changeover which led to the mistake was so the first surgical team could have ‘tea relief’, the report said
The sponge left in the patient is called an endoractor and is used during a keyhole surgery by being put in the incision to make more space for surgeons.
The review said: ‘An endoractor was used during the procedure to facilitate dissection.
‘The patient initially made a reasonable recovery post op however, there was a slight elevation in inflammatory markers towards the end of the week and the patient complained of worsening pain.
A repeat CT scan identified a foreign body, which was confirmed by a surgeon as being the endoractor.’
It also ruled staff education for new equipment, including endoractors, was essential and that ‘distraction should be minimised’.
NHS Lanarkshire runs Hairmyres Hospital in East Kilbride, Wishaw General Hospital and Monklands Hospital in Airdrie.
The report doesn’t reveal which of the three sites the blunder took place at.
Dr Lesley Anne Smith, an associate director at NHS Lanarkshire, said: ‘We take the safety of our patients extremely seriously and we regret any adverse incident.
‘This type of incident is incredibly rare
‘This type of incident is incredibly rare however, should one occur, we carry out a thorough investigation with the staff involved to ensure that lessons are learned and measures are put in place to prevent similar incidents happening in the future.
‘The findings of the investigation were made available to the patient.’
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