“…Our case report attempts at eliminating the occurrence of RSS to prevent the unplanned return to theatre and reduce potential harm to the patient (Rowlands 2012). As early as 1892, with the first case report in a French journal, to an increasing number of reports in the early 2000s, the awareness of RSS has grown as many authors have attempted to reduce its occurrence employing various strategies, which are now standard protocol including repeating the surgical count prior to wound closure, algorithms, radio-opaque strips to allow easy identification and utilising separate staff to count surgical swabs (as far back as 1901) (Atabey et al 2009, Freitas et al 2016, Neugebauer 1901, Reddy et al 2019). New technologies such as ‘Electronic Computer Assisted Sponge Counting System’ and Radio-Frequency identification (RFID) sponges have become useful in reducing the incidence of RSSs (Rupp et al 2012, Williams et al 2014).…”