A piece of wire was left inside a patient’s chest after an operation at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, it was revealed today.

And in a separate incident a patient was fitted with the wrong part during a knee replacement operation at Oswestry’s Orthopaedic Hospital partly because staff could not read a label properly. They took place earlier this year.

Both cases – classed as events which should never happen – were reported to members of the Shropshire County NHS Primary Care Trust at a meeting yesterday.

The first involved a guide wire used as part of an operation to remove fluid from a patient’s chest to help with breathing. The wire was left inside the patient after slipping from a doctor’s grip during the procedure at the RSH in June.

Dr Ashley Fraser, medical director of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said today: “Unfortunately on this occasion the doctor lost hold of the guide wire during the chest drain procedure.

“This was identified immediately, and we apologised to the patient and the patient’s family at the time and kept them fully informed throughout. The guide wire was removed without the need for surgery, and without ongoing ill effects for the patient.”

The second incident involved a patient undergoing knee surgery at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry in April.

The wrong plastic replacement knee part was inserted, the board was told.

Linda Izquierdo, the PCT’s head of quality, said part of the problem was the way in which the manufacturers had labelled the replacement parts.

Professor Iain McCall, medical director of The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said the incident related to a patient inadvertently being given one component of a total knee replacement implant which was designed for the opposite leg.

He said the error was caused by the hospital’s robust checking process not being fully implemented and labelling. Mr McCall added that the incident was reported to the manufacturer and the labelling had now been changed. Internal steps had also been taken to ensure such incidents did not happen again.