Surgical items left inside 60 patients across the west since 2011

Galway Bay fm newsroom - 62 patients who had surgeries carried out within the Saolta hospitals group since 2011 had medical items such as swabs or needles left inside their bodies.

Figures released to the Irish Daily Mail through Freedom of Information reveal that nationally, as many as 313 patients have had foreign bodies left behind by medical staff.

The Saolta group - which includes UHG and Portiuncula hospital - recorded 62 cases between 2011 and 2017.