The Sun newspaper has said that the NHS is wasting millions of pounds through surgical instruments being left inside patients after operations.

The newspaper obtained data under the Freedom of Information Act, which revealed that since 2005, 533 patients had been sewn up after surgery with a range of equipment left inside them. These included swabs, gauze, needles and clips.

Patients have been compensated as a result of the errors, with claims totalling £10 million to date. On average, two patients every week are left with surgical equipment still inside their bodies – successful claimants received an average of £25,000 in compensation and legal fees in the year 2008-09. However, the two largest claims – for £157,488 and £104,500 –

were paid out to patients who had had swabs left inside them.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said that NHS patients deserved ‘high quality care’.

‘The vast majority of the millions of people treated by the NHS every year experience good quality, safe and effective care,’ he added.

‘However, if patients do not receive the treatment they should and mistakes are made, it is right that they are compensated and have access to legal representation.’

Susie Squire of the Taxpayers’ Alliance said the errors ‘must be stopped’, adding that such mistakes caused ‘distress and pain to patients’, while costing taxpayers ‘a fortune’.

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