NHS England regularly publishes provisional ‘Never Event’ data to support early learning, transparency and system‑wide safety improvement.
Their most recent report covers the period April 2025 – November 2025[1]. Their preliminary data suggests there were 274 ‘never events’.
Never Events are serious, preventable, incidents causing harm to the patient that should not occur if correct safety systems are in place.
These incidents suggest failure of multiple safety barriers, and often highlight systemic issues such as breakdowns in communication, procedure checks, or organisational oversight.
The 274 incidents classified as meeting the Never Event definition are effectively evidence of serious preventable harm, flowing from negligence.
Of those that have been identified 116 are wrong-site surgery (where the surgery was on the wrong patient, wrong part of the body or wrong site), the next largest category is for retained objects (where a surgical item is accidentally left inside a patient’s body) and then wrong implants (where the implanted device or prosthesis is either not intended for that patient or it was the wrong one for that procedure).
This suggests that surgery has the highest number of preventable errors.
Sadly, this is no surprise to those of us who have worked for patients who have been negligently injured, leading to compensation.
Not all problems are the result of clinical or medical negligence. However, some are and so if you feel that you or a loved one suffered an injury as a result of medical negligence then please contact us if you wish to discuss your potential claim for compensation.
Our expert Medical Negligence team consists of dedicated specialists with many years of experience in bringing successful claims for medical negligence for those who have suffered negligently caused injuries.
We provide an initial free, defined, no obligation, review of your circumstances to see whether there may be grounds for a claim.
Dr Darren Conway PhD[2] is a Solicitor in our Medical Negligence department[3] here at Ward & Rider, specialising in helping those who have suffered an avoidable injury in a medical setting.
If you want to find out more and see how Ward & Rider could help you, click here[4]
Or email us at us enquiry@wardrider.co.uk
Or call us on 0800 316 5887
For more information regarding the NHS complaints process, please click HERE[5].
This article does not constitute legal advice and you should contact us directly if you are facing a similar situation.
[1] NHS England » Provisional publication of Never Events reported as occurring between April 2025 and November 2025
[2] Dr Darren Conway PhD | Medical Negligence Lawyer at Ward & Rider
[3] Medical Negligence Lawyers and Solicitors | Ward & Rider Solicitors
[4] Contact Ward & Rider Solicitors
[5] NHS England » Feedback and complaints about NHS services
