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Lib Dems reveal 5,514 botched operations in Scottish hospitals
August 6, 2009 10:32 AM
Originally published by Scottish Liberal Democrats
Originally published by Scottish Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats have revealed that there have been 5,514 surgical errors in Scottish hospitals over the last five years.
Answers to Parliamentary Questions received by the Liberal Democrats also shows that 3,106 patients had organs accidentally cut or punctured during surgery.
Commenting, Liberal Democrat Health spokesperson Ross Finnie MSP said:
"Most patients will accept that undergoing operations is not without a certain element of risk. But 5,514 operations have been botched in Scottish hospitals over the past five years.
"These statistics may include minor errors, but our figures show that over 3,000 patients have incurred damage to their organs as a result.
"Patients going into hospital for surgery have enough to think about without worrying about serious surgical mistakes like this.
"Health Boards must be able to reassure patients that they take steps to minimise the risk of surgical errors.
"This means openly learning from any mistakes in the past and making sure that surgeons and their medical teams are not being pressured to take dangerous risks to meet waiting times.
"Meeting central government targets must not come at the risk of patient safety."
Ends.
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