Part of a needle was left inside a patient for more than two months after surgery at Medway Maritime Hospital.

Details of the incident have been revealed in the latest serious incident report presented to the board of the troubled NHS Foundation Trust.

The patient, who has not been identified, had undergone surgery for a fractured shoulder. The end of a suturing needle, used to stitch wounds, was discovered nine weeks later during an x-ray.

The report stated: “Intra-operative images did not identify the needle tip and it was not noticed during the needle count and sign out procedure.

“A rapid review meeting has been undertaken and investigation team identified to complete a full report.”

The mistake was one of five serious incidents reported at the hospital in September. There were two elderly patients who suffered fractures because of a fall and two patients who suffered serious pressure ulcers.

One of the patients who suffered a fall was a woman who was placed in a single-bed side room where the call bell did not work. She fell and broke her hip while trying to get to the toilet by herself because she could not call for help.

Dr Andrew Burnett, chairman of the Quality Assurance Committee, raised concerns about the trust’s “continuing failure” to make adequate progress in areas such as falls, pressure ulcers and addressing safety issues.

He said: “As we have noted before, staffing levels of appropriately qualified staff are a key aspect of this”, adding: “I consider that much greater – and more innovative – activity is required to recruit and to retain staff.”

The board was told staffing at the hospital, which was placed in special measures last year, continued to remain a “challenge” and nursing vacancies remain high.

The trust is now attending recruitment fairs for the first time in five years in an attempt to bolster staff numbers.

There are currently 43 ‘open’ serious incidents at Medway. The Clinical Commissioning Group, which is responsible for buying health care services in Medway, has offered to undertake a block review of all outstanding cases with the aim of closing a large number of them.

The latest Care Quality Commission report on the hospital is due to be published next week.