‘Never Events’ are serious patient safety incidents which are considered wholly preventable due to nationwide safety procedures and regulations which should have been followed.
There is a formal NHS list of ‘Never Events’ which is frequently updated.
You can find the list here: NHS England » Never events
Hospital staff are encouraged to report Never Events to assist with learning and the collation of data. Between April 2024 and March 2025, the NHS recorded 421 patient safety incidents, which were designated as ‘Never Events’.
The most commonly occurring ‘Never Event’ was wrong-site surgery, which refers to instances where the wrong body part has been operated on. The second most common ‘Never Event’ was the retention of foreign objects post-procedure, such as when a surgical instrument is left inside a patient after surgery has ended.
What Are Other Common Examples of ‘Never Events’?
Some other examples of ‘Never Events’ include:
- Surgical errors: mistakes during surgery, such as using the wrong prosthesis or implant
- Medication errors: mistakes involving the administering of medication, including giving a patient medication via the wrong route or an overdose
- Patient safety: serious incidents such as injuries due to unsafe equipment and facilities
Making a medical negligence claim for a ‘Never Event’
As ‘Never Events’ are considered avoidable, suffering harm as a result of a ‘Never Event’ can often result in a successful claim for medical negligence.
Although a ‘Never Event’ will trigger a process under the NHS’ Patient Safety Incident Response Framework which aims to generate system-wide changes, this often cannot address the harm caused to the individual patient who experienced the ‘Never Event’ in the first place, and they should be entitled to recover compensation for that harm if it led to injury.
‘Never Events’, such as those listed above, can have extremely distressing consequences for the patient. They can also cause the patient to suffer financial loss and have a wider impact on their life in general.
Making a medical negligence claim, although no substitute for the appropriate safety procedures and regulations being followed, can help to alleviate some of the financial repercussions.
Contact our Medical Negligence Solicitors
If you or a loved one has been the subject of a ‘Never Event’, please seek the answers you deserve and telephone our experienced medical negligence team on 0800 987 8800 or make a free online enquiry here, and we will contact you. Alternatively, email us at enquiries@bmcf.co.uk.
This article is not intended to be taken as legal advice or acted upon, and information may have changed since publication. If you are seeking legal advice, please contact our medical negligence team.
