Blunders kept secret by bosses of Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital

It is one of only a handful of hospitals across the country to record so many 'never events'.

Never events are serious and largely preventable patient safety incidents and can include problems like foreign objects being left in patients after surgery. They are considered so serious that they require formal investigations.

But chiefs at the trust today refused to reveal details of the three blunders saying it breached patient confidentiality.

In total, almost 150 patients across the country have been harmed by 'never events', according to the NHS England data.

'Never events' have cost the trust, which runs New Cross Hospital, dearly in the past.

Health chiefs cited it when they refused to give the trust foundation status, which would free it from Government control and give it greater financial freedom. The trust pledged to eradicate as many 'never events' as possible from New Cross, but today's figures – which cover April to September – make grim reading for bosses.

Chief executive David Loughton said full investigations had been carried out into each never event and the root causes had been identified. "When we found that someone has not followed the correct process, we have taken action," he said.

"We have worked hard with the Association of Perioperative Practice to ensure all our staff working in the operating theatre and maternity services, including nurses, midwives, doctors and ancillary staff have received extra training to prevent the risk of never events."

Earlier this year an investigation was launched after a kidney drain was accidentally left inside a patient at New Cross for three years.

Doctors came across the drain in a separate routine operation. Last month, a series of blunders was revealed at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust. This included eye surgery being carried out on the wrong patient after the wrong person stood up when a call was put out in the waiting room.