Hospital bosses had to apologise to a man after medics started a medical procedure on the wrong part of his body.
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust (CHFT) has revealed it was guilty of a so-called ‘Never Event’ in October last year.
Never Events are named so by the NHS as they are failures that should ‘never, ever happen’.
Few details of the incident have been revealed but CHFT has confirmed it involved a ureteroscopy on a male patient.
The procedure involves pushing a flexible tube known as a stent into the bladder through the penis, most frequently to check for kidney stones.
Unfortunately for the man, the team involved in the delicate procedure inserted the stent to investigate his left kidney when they were supposed to be looking at the right kidney.
They realised and were able to withdraw it and re-position it.
No surgical incisions were made during the procedure.
Nevertheless, the blunder was recorded as a serious incident and reported to the hospital’s investigators.
It has not been revealed if the mistake took place at HRI or Calderdale Royal. Urology services are available at both sites.
A CHFT report says they recommended reviewing surgeon’s checklists to reduce the risk of this happening by making the operating side clearer as surgery commences.
The trust’s Medical Director, David Birkenhead, said: “We are sorry this happened and have explained and apologised to our patient.
“It was a procedure done endoscopically and the correct stent was able to be positioned at the same time with no harm caused.
“We have further strengthened our checking procedures to ensure this will not happen again.“
