One death after Southend Hospital left swabs in three patients (From Echo)

One death after Southend Hospital left swabs in three patients

4:00pm Friday 19th March 2010 in

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A WOMAN died after leaving Southend Hospital with a swab left inside her, it has been revealed.

A Freedom of Information Act request by the Echo revealed three people left hospital with swabs inside them in 2008.

It was revealed yesterday one of the women died.

However, it is not known how long after she left hospital she died, or if the death was caused by the swab.

One of the three women, Nina Turner, of Walsingham Road, Southend, discovered a swab had been left in her body during the birth of her daughter Gracie, in November 2008.

Mrs Turner had undergone a procedure to prevent tearing during labour and had been bleeding heavily. Swabs were used to stem the blood and one was left inside after she was stitched up. She eventually passed the swab a month after the birth.

She has since settled out of court with the hospital. Yesterday, Mrs Turner, 31, said she was shocked to hear of the death. She said: “It brings home the seriousness of these cases. When I contacted the hospital to complain it was very blase and matter-of-fact about it all. It just kept saying these things happen, but this shows how serious it can be.

“We have now settled out of court and the hospital has sent a list of things it is putting in place to stop it happening again. These include counting swabs, which I would have thought should be routine anyway.”

A second unnamed woman contacted the Echo to say she had a swab left inside her during surgery. Yesterday, the hospital said the death “was not necessarily as a result of the incident”, but when asked for a response on the death, Sarah Ballard-Smith, director of nursing at the hospital, said: “It is extremely regrettable this instance of a retained swab has occurred. However, such incidents should be considered in the context of the vast number of surgical procedures that take place each year.

“We are confident our processes in place to prevent such occurrences are based on best practice and national guidance, and continue to work to ensure that we eliminate all such occurrences.

“We regard patient safety as a key priority, and this was one of the reasons why Southend Hospital was one of the first in the East of England Strategic Health Area to sign up to the National Patient Safety Campaign.”