HORRIFYING details of medical mistakes that should never happen have been revealed - and include 'wrong site' surgery and a medical instrument left inside a patient after surgery within the area's hospitals.

There were two so called 'never events' inflicted upon patients within hospitals run by the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust - the organisation in charge of Furness General Hospital - during the 2015/16 year.

Hospital bosses emphasised that never events are incredibly rare but stated both incidents had been unacceptable and sparked full-scale investigations into their cause.

RELATED ARTICLE: Morecambe Bay hospitals subject five patients to never event blunder ordeal

Dr David Walker, UHMBT medical director, said: "Although never events represent a very small proportion of how many patients we care for, the impact on those involved can be devastating and that is unacceptable.

"It is essential that we are always open and honest with those involved when mistakes are made, and let them know what happened, why it happened, and what we are doing to try to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

"Every never event and serious incident is investigated thoroughly and used as a learning opportunity to improve our services and make them safer," Dr Walker added.

The first blunder to have unfolded during the 2015/16 year saw a patient experience pain and an infected wound following surgery.

They were given antibiotics a week after going under the knife and again four weeks later in a bid to resolve the issue.

However, when the discomfort did not subside, surgeons re-opened the wound where they discovered a suture needle buried deep within the incision site.

A second incident involved a patient who was taken to theatre to have a lower right tooth removed.

But a series of checks to confirm exactly which tooth was to be extracted failed - including a World Health Organisation checklist undertaken moments before the procedure was carried out.

A third mistake reported to NHS England as a never event was later downgraded to a less serious status after medics and national health bosses agreed it did not fully fit the criteria for the more serious category.

The incidents were among 316 never events that took place across the NHS last year - including 132 wrong site surgeries and 79 foreign objects left inside patients during surgery.

There were none reported by UHMBT during 2014/15 though three occurred in the 2013/14 year.

RELATED ARTICLE: Barrow hospital bosses adopt airline-style 'black box thinking' to improve patient safety