A private Manchester hospital has issued an urgent message to patients dating back to 1998. It comes as part of a major recall following the exposure of shocking failures by a prolific spinal surgeon who worked at the hospital.
At the end of each phase of a patient recall, Spire says it considers whether additional patients should be contacted. Based on the findings to date, Spire has announced its decision to extend the recall to cover all patients who received specific spinal procedures from 1998, when Mr Williamson started to perform surgeries at Spire Manchester, ‘to ensure that all patients have received an appropriate standard of care’.
The trust instructed barrister Carlo Breen to undertake an independent investigation 'to investigate how historic concerns and complaints dating back to 2007 relating to this consultant’s conduct, probity and capability had been previously handled and what lessons could be learned'. The expert who provided evidence to Mr Breen said: “The lack of a second consultant surgeon expressly against the advice of the MDT is unacceptable and extremely difficult to justify. That, plus the decision to proceed with an orthopaedic registrar, I believe directly contributed to the patient’s death due to the inevitably slower surgery.
Mr Williamson reacted to the report by saying: "There are findings and conclusions with which I do not agree."