BLUNDERING doctors who left surgical tools inside their patients have cost the NHS more than £30m in five years.
Hundreds of unlucky Brits who went under the knife later launched legal action after discovering foreign bodies had been accidentally inserted during routine procedures.
A total of £34million was splashed on settling 692 claims between 2018 and 2023, including £15.8m in damages to victims.
The average payout for the surgical disasters – which happen twice a week on average – was £22,000, although at least 35 were settled with no financial payment.
But each successful bid cost a further £27,000 in legal fees for both sides paid from the public purse, taking the total blunder price to £49,000.
In the 12 months to last April, some 128 claims were settled for £6.85m
And in 2018 a record 158 claims were successful but payouts only totalled £6.3m.
Figures obtained by The Sun show at least five of the blunders happened during plastic surgery, while a dozen items were left behind in orthopaedic surgeries or examinations.
Devices most commonly left inside NHS patients include swabs, clips and plastic tubes.
Experts suggest the level of claims is just the tip of the iceberg, as many people do not discover a mistake unless it causes a problem, often years later.
The incidents generally happen as a result of oversights by doctors under pressure in stressful situations like emergency surgeries.
Tubby patients are also more likely to be affected as their extra body mass can make it more difficult to spot tools that have been left behind.
An NHS spokeswoman said: “NHS staff work exceptionally hard to keep patients safe and thankfully these incidents are rare, however when they do occur trusts have to investigate what has happened and take effective steps to improve as part of NHS patient safety procedures.”