Cases double in NHS trust death and injury investigation

A police investigation into allegations of preventable deaths and accidents at an NHS belief has doubled the variety of circumstances it’s , PJDM Information can reveal.

The claims centre on care and therapy supplied by College Hospitals Sussex NHS Belief between 2015 and 2021.

Sussex Police began wanting in 2023 into an preliminary 105 circumstances, however PJDM File On 4 Investigates has learned that quantity is now greater than 200.

The drive says the investigation is “lively and ongoing”, however it is going to “not be offering particular particulars round case numbers at the moment”.

Police turned concerned after two whistleblowers raised allegations of medical negligence at two of the belief’s departments – neurosurgery and basic surgical procedure, together with considerations about at the least 40 deaths.

The rise in circumstances is linked to extra households having contacted the police.

Separate to this investigation, we’ve got spoken to the household of a affected person who allege they have been “lied” to by a senior surgeon within the belief’s basic surgical procedure division, earlier than he carried out an operation that left her with life-threatening accidents.

Wendy Gibbs, 80, had been as a result of be operated on by Marc Lamah to restore a pelvic prolapse at a personal hospital in Brighton, run by Nuffield Well being. However the surgeon informed her he wished to modify the process to a special Nuffield hospital as a result of the Brighton website did not have a selected kind of scanner that he would want. The machine, it turned out, was additionally not obtainable on the second hospital.

Mr Lamah additionally did not confide in Mrs Gibbs that he, and different surgeons, have been prevented from finishing up such operations in Brighton on the time, as Nuffield Well being had suspended that kind of surgical procedure over security considerations.

When Mrs Gibbs’ operation occurred in March 2024, Mr Lamah mistakenly snipped her bowel, inflicting inner bleeding not noticed for hours. Mrs Gibbs developed sepsis, a life-threatening situation.

She wanted an emergency second operation – additionally carried out by Mr Lamah – on the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, which is a part of the NHS belief below investigation. This was adopted by a spell in intensive care and 11 days’ sedation.

Mrs Gibbs, who now has a everlasting stoma bag, says she was traumatised by the expertise. “He failed me, he betrayed my belief. I’ve obtained quite a few points left from the operation. Most of my hair fell out. My nails fell off. It is coming again now, however the trauma of it really taking place and never having the ability to do something about it – it isn’t simple.”

Wendy Gibbs’s case will not be a part of the police investigation as her therapy occurred after the interval the police are .

Nuffield Well being – the non-public healthcare supplier at whose hospital the primary operation befell – mentioned it was conducting a “deeper investigation into a specific guide.”

It added: “Because the investigation remains to be dwell, we’re unable to remark.”

Nonetheless, a former director of scientific companies at Nuffield’s Brighton hospital – the place Mr Lamah additionally practised privately – mentioned that in 2023, the corporate had recognised considerations together with his complication price.

Michael Turner informed us information confirmed that one third of Mr Lamah’s sufferers had skilled a “average hurt occasion” (the place, as an example, a affected person needed to be transferred to a different hospital or re-admitted) over a 12-month interval. Mr Turner mentioned the determine ought to have been lower than 5%.

Three months in the past, Michael Turner was dismissed by Nuffield Well being for gross misconduct after he used an expletive to explain the actions of a special guide.

Mr Lamah continues to function at Royal Sussex County Hospital. The College Hospitals Sussex NHS Belief informed us it had audited his NHS information, which confirmed that his outcomes have been inside the anticipated nationwide vary.

“If there’s any proof of considerations relating to the care of our NHS sufferers, then in fact we don’t hesitate to behave,” a spokesperson mentioned.

Talking anonymously, a former NHS colleague of Mr Lamah informed the PJDM that the surgeon had been “pulled up on a couple of events for issues that have been considerably unprofessional”.

The colleague says that certainly one of these events associated to an emergency operation, when Mr Lamah introduced he was setting himself a problem to complete in 45 minutes, regardless of there being no want to take action.

We contacted Marc Lamah, however he refused to remark.

The PJDM has reported various tales from the College Hospitals Sussex NHS Belief up to now two years:

Law enforcement officials are at present figuring out related circumstances and sending them to medical consultants for his or her view as as to if there’s a foundation to query the care these sufferers obtained – a course of that is anticipated to complete in early 2025. The investigation is at an early stage and there aren’t any suspects at this stage.

The vast majority of circumstances seem to contain the neurosurgery division. Police are contemplating gross negligence manslaughter and company manslaughter fees.

File on 4 Investigates understands that one of many circumstances being examined by medical consultants as a part of the police investigation is that of Stephen Coles. He was operated on by a neurosurgeon named Carl Hardwidge, who spent 31 years working on the belief earlier than leaving in 2023. He has been criticised by the household of Mr Coles, who died in 2021 after being operated on by Mr Hardwidge to take away a mind tumour.

Following the surgical procedure, Mr Coles, who was 66, was unable to swallow as a result of cranial nerve injury. He then spent a number of weeks in hospital the place he ultimately died, after contracting pneumonia from poor care he obtained on a basic ward.

His sister, Julie Rhodes, says Mr Hardwidge has by no means defined to the household why Mr Coles was so unwell after his operation. An inquest didn’t increase any considerations in regards to the care Mr Coles obtained, a conclusion that left Ms Rhodes “dissatisfied” because it “did not reply any questions.”

Nonetheless, a neurological knowledgeable who assessed the case for PJDM Information mentioned Stephen Coles’ loss of life had been avoidable, and criticised Mr Hardwidge’s post-operative care. He mentioned Mr Coles ought to have been fitted with a tracheostomy to assist him breathe.

“The duty for shielding the affected person’s airway,” mentioned the knowledgeable, “should lie with the working surgeon.”

File on 4 Investigates is conscious considerations have been raised about care Carl Hardwidge supplied to at the least three different sufferers whereas working on the belief.

A choose at an employment tribunal additionally mentioned he was “considerably involved” Mr Hardwidge had, throughout his proof, tried to minimise delays within the care of one other affected person who died in 2012.

When File on 4 Investigates contacted Mr Hardwidge, he refused to remark.

The College Hospitals Sussex NHS belief mentioned that its neurosurgery group had confronted important challenges since 2012, and that consequently some sufferers have been ready longer for his or her care than they need to have executed, “for which we sincerely apologise”.

The belief says it’s cooperating with the police investigation and recognise that it has a lot work to do to enhance their efficiency. In an announcement, the chief govt, George Findlay, mentioned that since a brand new management group was put in in 2017, many enhancements in high quality and security had adopted.

“Regardless of these and different enhancements,” added Mr Findlay, “it’s clear that some long-standing challenges stay, and additionally it is completely clear that we’ve got a lot additional to go in enhancing care and higher supporting colleagues.”