A hospital has declared a never event after a patient's oxygen facemask was connected to the wrong outlet.

Gerard Sammon, interim chief executive of the Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, highlighted the issue in his April 2018 staff briefing.

The incident took place at Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, when a patient was taken into the emergency department.

Upon arrival, their facemask was connected to an air outlet instead of oxygen.

Fortunately, the error was noted, corrected and reported, and the patient was not harmed.

Mr Sammon chose to make staff aware of the event in an attempt to reduce the risk of future incidents.

It was initially declared by the Trust in the last week of March.

The patient is aware of the ongoing investigation.

A spokesman for the Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust said: "We have an open and honest culture at the Trust where staff are encouraged to report any untoward incidents.

"This helps to prevent mistakes from happening again and enables us to review and improve our services.

"The patient was not harmed but the event should not have happened and actions are in place to address this."