South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has cost a UK hospital trust over £287,000 in losses due to a broken drill, left unconsciously in patients during surgeries. Six of these cases involved a claim of this kind against the trust that was filed between February 2019 and April 2024, NHS Resolution cites.
The whole amount that the trust spent on these claims was £287,109 when added to all the ``patients is £144,000 damages'' that the trust had to pay. The remaining expenses of £138,000 were legal fees. University Hospitals Tees, the governing body for the trust, however, did not deny the fact that they seldomly happen but rather they reiterated that they work in an "open and honest" manner with patients and their families when faced with such mishaps.
He said, "Moreover, consequently, this enhances the introduction of the most effective mechanisms for patient safety going forward. Object retention was least likely to be associated with the foreign inclusion of guidewires, surgical swabs, and skin clips, as well as the skin clips used by the remaining foreign bodies.
As part of the South Tress Hospitals, the trust operates James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and Friarage Hospital in Northallerton as well as primary care facilities in Redcar and Brotton. In contrast, the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, with stewardship of the hospitals in Stockton and Hartlepool, never had more than five claims against them, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
The trust did not reveal the details of the specific incidents nor the compensation amounts. According to the outcomes of Medical Negligence Assist, 556 claims were approved among those that hospitals across England, trusts included, spent a total amount of £14.8 million in compensations in the 5 years under assessment.