Six patients at York's hospital trust had limbs amputated in incidents that sparked patient care investigations, it has been revealed.

But York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has denied claims of medical negligence in respect of the cases.

Online personal injury law firm Accident Claims, which offers a ‘no win no fee’ service, said the amputations - four in 2020 and two in 2021- were so-called ‘never events’, and were due to ‘medical mistakes’.

The NHS defines ‘never events’ as ‘serious incidents that are entirely preventable’ and which occur because national guidelines are not followed.

But a spokesperson for the York and Scarborough trust denied that any of the six cases had been ‘never events’.

She said each case had been investigated, and there had been ‘no findings of clinical negligence against our Trust’.

Accident Claims said that, responding to a Freedom of Information request, a number of NHS trusts across the country had admitted to ‘numerous cases where medical negligence has led to amputations in the past three years’.

It said that, with six cases, York and Scarborough Hospitals Trust came top of the list – although it admitted that not all hospital trusts had responded to the FOI request.

But the York hospitals trust spokesperson said: “There are varied reasons why a patient may require a limb amputation, with cases often involving patients with multiple complex conditions.

“None of these amputations were classified as a ‘never event’, but were cases where further investigation was undertaken through the Serious Investigation Procedures … to identify whether there were opportunities for learning and for improving the quality and safety of patient care in our hospitals.

“These investigations involve the patients themselves and their families to ensure an open and transparent approach.

“There were no findings of clinical negligence against our trust in these cases.”

Accident Claims said it had sought data via Freedom of Information requests from every NHS Trust in the UK.

Nick Banks, head of clinical negligence at JF Law, which owns the Accident Claims brand, said: “Losing a limb is life-changing and can be devastating for patients and their families.

“As well as the obvious emotional impact, injuries can cause a bigger financial impact than many households can bear, particularly in the current cost of living crisis, when many are already struggling to make ends meet.”

But Accident Claims admitted not all NHS trusts had responded to its request, for various reasons including delays due to staffing issues.

Some trusts had denied the request, it added, on the grounds that the cost of recovering the data would be in excess of what is deemed ‘reasonable’ under the FOI Act.