Patients operated on at Maidstone Hospital were left with a ‘memento’ - bits of metal inside them overlooked by surgeons after being sewn up.

One patient is suing the hospital trust for an undisclosed amount.

The revelations have come to light following Freedom of Information (FOI) enquiries placed by the KM with several hospital trusts in the county.

They were asked how many instruments were left inside the body of patients during surgery over the past three years.

The mishaps happened to two people - both adults, out of thousands of procedures carried out every year.

One involved a fragment of a snapped scalpel blade which was left in the patient in 2009 and later removed. It is now the subject of an ongoing claim for compensation.

The other was a small piece of metal left in a patient from a device used during a hip operation last year.

Full story in this week's Kent Messenger, out Friday.