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Wednesday, February 19, 2025
HomeHealthCircumstances double in NHS belief demise and damage investigation

Circumstances double in NHS belief demise and damage investigation

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Mark Norman / ORIONEWS A yellow ambulance enters an access road on a slope, alongside a modern building with the words "Royal Sussex County Hospital" written large on a cream-coloured stone wall.Mark Norman / ORIONEWS

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

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

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

The drive says the investigation is “energetic and ongoing”, however it should “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 normal surgical procedure, together with issues 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 spoken to the household of a affected person who allege they had been “lied” to by a senior surgeon within the belief’s normal surgical procedure division, earlier than he carried out an operation that left her with life-threatening accidents.

Wendy Gibbs, 80, had been because of be operated on by Marc Lamah to restore a pelvic prolapse at a non-public hospital in Brighton, run by Nuffield Well being. However the surgeon advised her he wished to modify the process to a special Nuffield hospital as a result of the Brighton web site did not have a particular kind of scanner that he would wish. The machine, it turned out, was additionally not out there on the second hospital.

Mr Lamah additionally did not confide in Mrs Gibbs that he, and different surgeons, had 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 issues.

Wendy is pictured - a head and shoulders shot. She is 80, with tousled straight grey hair. Her chin is resting on her left hand, and she is wearing a gold and amber ring on her ring finger. She is looking off to her right.

Surgeon Marc Lamah “failed me, he betrayed my belief”, says Wendy Gibbs

When Mrs Gibbs’ operation occurred in March 2024, Mr Lamah mistakenly snipped her bowel, inflicting inside 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 beneath 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 acquired 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 truly taking place and never with the ability to do something about it – it is not simple.”

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

Nuffield Well being – the personal healthcare supplier at whose hospital the primary operation occurred – stated it was conducting a “deeper investigation into a selected advisor.”

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

Nevertheless, a former director of scientific companies at Nuffield’s Brighton hospital – the place Mr Lamah additionally practised privately – stated that in 2023, the corporate had recognised issues along with his complication charge.

Michael Turner advised us information confirmed that one third of Mr Lamah’s sufferers had skilled a “average hurt occasion” (the place, for example, a affected person needed to be transferred to a different hospital or re-admitted) over a 12-month interval. Mr Turner stated 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 advisor.

Surgeon ‘set himself 45-min restrict’

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

“If there’s any proof of issues concerning the care of our NHS sufferers, then after all we don’t hesitate to behave,” a spokesperson stated.

A man who is about 50, with short dark shaved hair, distinctive dark eyebrows and rimless glasses. He is looking straight at the camera and is not smiling. He is pictured - head and shoulders - against a plain white background.

Surgeon Marc Lamah didn’t present any remark to the ORIONEWS

Talking anonymously, a former NHS colleague of Mr Lamah advised the ORIONEWS that the surgeon had been “pulled up on a number of events for issues that had been considerably unprofessional”.

The colleague says that considered 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 ORIONEWS has reported quite a few tales from the College Hospitals Sussex NHS Belief up to now two years:

Cops are at present figuring out related circumstances and sending them to medical specialists for his or her view as as to whether there’s a foundation to query the care these sufferers acquired – a course of that is anticipated to complete in early 2025. The investigation is at an early stage and there are not any suspects at this stage.

Nearly all of circumstances seem to contain the neurosurgery division. Police are contemplating gross negligence manslaughter and company manslaughter costs.

File on 4 Investigates understands that one of many circumstances being examined by medical specialists 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.

A woman in her 40s or 50s is pictured with straight blond hair, hooped earrings and an orange top. She is looking out of shot, to her left.

Julie Rhodes says Mr Hardwidge has by no means defined why her brother, Stephen, was so ailing after his operation

Following the surgical procedure, Mr Coles, who was 66, was unable to swallow because of cranial nerve harm. He then spent a number of weeks in hospital the place he finally died, after contracting pneumonia from poor care he acquired on a normal ward.

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

Nevertheless, a neurological knowledgeable who assessed the case for ORIONEWS Information stated Stephen Coles’ demise had been avoidable, and criticised Mr Hardwidge’s post-operative care. He stated Mr Coles ought to have been fitted with a tracheostomy to assist him breathe.

“The accountability for safeguarding the affected person’s airway,” stated the knowledgeable, “should lie with the working surgeon.”

File on 4 Investigates is conscious issues 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 stated 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.

Julie Rhodes A man and a woman are pictured in the countryside by an expanse of water. It is a sunny summer's day and trees are in full leaf on the hillside in the distance. The man is wearing a green T-shirt, he has straight grey hair and is smiling at the camera. The woman is also smiling. She has straight blond hair, is wearing a necklace with silver heart, and is wearing a brown summery top with thin shoulder straps.Julie Rhodes

The demise of Stephen Coles – pictured along with his sister Julie – had been avoidable, in response to a neurological knowledgeable who assessed his case for ORIONEWS Information

The College Hospitals Sussex NHS belief stated that its neurosurgery workforce had confronted important challenges since 2012, and that consequently some sufferers had 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 a press release, the chief govt, George Findlay, stated that since a brand new management workforce 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 a lot additional to go in bettering care and higher supporting colleagues.”

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