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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Health
Tara Cobham

Removing both ovaries and operating on wrong patient ‘among 661 times NHS surgeons made errors’

The removal of both ovaries instead of one and operating on the wrong patient are among the hundreds of times NHS surgeons have made errors over the last five years, new data has revealed.

English hospitals performed 661 cases of surgery on the wrong patient or body part between 2020 and 2025, the figures show, marking a 46 per cent rise over that timeframe, with serious harm caused to patients in 7 per cent of incidents.

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