Colchester hospital University Trust has been revealed as having the largest number of serious safety breaches in the last year in England.
Nine so-called “never events” took place at the hospital trust – up from one in 2013-14. “Never events” are so called because they are errors that are so serious they should never happen.
In addition, the trust had more than 420 “serious incidents” during the past year.
The data has been revealed in the midst of an investigation by Essex Police regarding data manipulation in cancer cases at the trust.
Fiona Hedges, Clinical Negligence Solicitor at Clear Law, said: “These findings are entirely unacceptable and now they have been brought to light action must be taken to ensure that these errors do not happen again.
“Patient safety must be at the heart at the trust; those being admitted to the hospital trust need to feel safe in their care.”
A spokesman for Colchester hospital University NHS Trust said: “The National Patient Safety Agency advocates trusts must be open, report and learn from incidents and ranks organisations according to the numbers of incidents reported.
“High reporting of incidents is viewed positively because it shows an organisation encourages transparency and learning.
“The trust, therefore, proactively encourages all staff to be open and to report incidents and has a ‘no blame’ policy so learning can take place to prevent recurrence.
“Incidents are reviewed on a daily basis by an executive director-chaired panel that determines immediate action which needs to be taken to prevent recurrence and to safeguard the welfare of patients.”