A PATIENT discovered a piece of tape had been left inside them after an operation at the Royal Bolton – during a routine scan a year later.

Surgical processes at the hospital are being examined after the latest never event – the sixth in the last 16 months – was declared by hospital bosses.

The most recent incident relates to a procedure carried out in April last year but has just come to light.

It involved a small piece of elastic-type surgical tape which was left inside a patient during bowel surgery.

Hospital bosses said the object had not and will not cause the patient any harm and does not need to be removed from the patient.

In her update to the trust’s board of directors at a meeting last Thursday, chief executive Jackie Bene said: “Unfortunately a further surgical never event has been reported. This relates to a procedure carried out in April 2014.

“A full investigation is being carried out and the patient has been informed.”

A total of six never events relating to surgery have been reported by Bolton NHS Foundation Trust between March 2014 and now.

Never events are defined by the NHS as serious incidents which are wholly preventable but which could cause serious patient harm or death.

The previous never events – which included a wrong-sized hip replacement being implanted into a patient, a vaginal swab left inside a woman’s body and the wrong skin lesion being removed – sparked a review by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS).

Earlier this year the trust invited the RCS to conduct a review of theatre services at the Royal Bolton, which will be supported by internal audits, to find out how the surgical failings occurred and what can be learned to prevent more never events in future.

The most recently-reported never event is expected to be investigated as part of the review, which has not yet begun.

Heather Edwards, head of communications at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It was a surgical event that took place a year ago and had just come to light.

“No harm has come to the patient. We are not giving more detail as the event is still being looked into. The patient will be kept informed.”

The other never events reported between March 2014 and April 2015 involved the wrong-sized lens being implanted into a patients eye and a patient having the wrong tooth extracted.

The trust has previously said that each incident involved a different theatre and nursing team.

RCS-invited reviews see expert teams, including a layperson who represents patients, determine whether there is cause for concern over surgical practice and make recommendations for improvement.

The RCS could not confirm whether the review would examine individuals or services as a whole.

The number of invited reviews the RCS undertakes nationally each year averages at about 25, but can vary.

The last RCS review at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust involved an individual surgeon and took place in 2000. It is unrelated to this recent invited review.