62 patients, who underwent surgery at hospitals in the Saolta Hospital Group, had medical items such as swabs and needles left inside them after surgery.

New figures provided to the Irish Daily Mail shows that, across the country over the last 7 years, over 300 people had foreign objects left in their bodies after surgery – including surgical clips, swabs and even syringe needles.

The Saolta West / Northwest Hospital Group had the second highest number at 62 cases.

A HSE spokesperson said it should be noted that, within any region in any given year, the number of instances of foreign objects left in patients during surgery is less than 0.005% of the surgical procedures carried out, and many of the events are minor in nature.