TWO Warrington Hospital employees have been sacked after a patient was given the wrong blood type.

The incident, reported in hospital board papers, was described as a ‘terrible event that had put the patient’s life at risk’.

Both members of staff were suspended once the blunder had been uncovered earlier this year but hospital bosses confirmed the pair have now been dismissed.

The hospital’s board of directors heard the patient was ‘recovering but there remained some medical concerns’ during the meeting and the incident had been classed as a ‘never event’.

The Department of Health use the status for incidents which are so serious they should never have happened.

Previously the hospital had recorded one ‘never event’ between 2009 and 2012 which involved a ‘foreign object’ being left in a patient post-operation.

Latest figures for the last 12 months also reported one other ‘never event’ at the Lovely Lane hospital where the wrong implant or prosthesis had been used.

National statistics revealed at the end of last year 25 patients a month across the country had been harmed by staff mistakes but NHS England stressed these type of incidents were extremely rare, occurring only once in every 20,000 procedures.

A spokesman for Warrington and Halton Hospitals said: “We have clear and proven procedures for administering blood products in the hospitals which are followed in cases each and every week without incident.

“This was an isolated case of individual error caused by not following those procedures.

“The patient involved was fully informed of the mistake and, most importantly, did not suffer any permanent harm as a result.

“The staff involved have been dealt with in accordance with the trust’s procedures, two members of staff were suspended and have subsequently been dismissed.”