'Saving cash must not be put before patients' lives' 85; HOSPITAL BLUNDERS: Watchdog hits out at 'avoidable accidents'.

Byline: Warren Manger 

PATIENTS at Coventry and Warwickshire hospitals were put at risk because of more than 150 errors and serious incidents last year.

The new figures were revealed by a national investigation into the number of Serious Untoward Incidents (SUIs) reported at hospitals.

Many of the accidents could be caused by overworked staff, it is feared.

The catalogue of errors reported at University Hospital, Coventry, and the Hospital of St Cross in Rugby included: * Two patients with chest pains who were discharged by doctors only to be readmitted later after suffering heart attacks.

* Patients who died after contracting the superbug C. diff.

* A patient who was given the wrong drug dosage during a clinical trial.

* Accidentally sending several patients' confidential letters to the wrong person.

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, which manages the two hospitals, recorded 85 SUIs.

Of those 17 were flagged up by the investigation as major errors.

George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton reported 48 SUIs, with a further 26 at South Warwickshire General Hospitals, the trust which runs Warwick and Stratford Hospitals.

Katherine Murphy, director of the Patients Association, said: "These are all avoidable accidents.

"Patient safety must be paramount in every hospital. Saving money must not be put before patients' lives." All three hospital trusts said they encouraged staff to report serious patient safety incidents and near misses so they could be thoroughly investigated and learned from.

The figures were obtained under Freedom of Information requests as part of an investigation into the number of mistakes made at NHS hospitals across the country.

Last year alone there were 4,000 blunders, more than 2,200 of which were deemed "serious".

These included patients killed by surgical errors, infections contracted in hospital, suicides and vital personal information being lost.

The NHS paid out pounds 264 million in compensation last year..