Great Ormond Street apologises after children suffered ‘severe harm’ under surgeon

A leading NHS children’s hospital is reviewing the care 721 patients received after an investigation found that children treated by one of its surgeons came to “severe harm” during limb reconstruction operations.

Great Ormond Street hospital (Gosh) in London has offered its “sincere apologies” to children who have suffered what the Sunday Times reported was in some cases lifelong damage.

Some of the children were left with one leg up to 20cm shorter than the other, the paper reported, while others are still in chronic pain years after their treatment, and one had a limb amputated – an outcome that experts said later could have been avoided.

An external review of the care of 39 of the 721 patients has found that 13 came to “severe harm”, another nine suffered “low/moderate harm”, while two cases have been referred for peer review, and the other 15 experienced no harm.

The children are reported to have been treated byYaser Jabbar, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon. Jabbar’s behaviour became a concern after the hospital asked the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) in 2022 to investigate the performance of its paediatric surgery department and patient outcomes, after staff and families voiced concerns about the quality of care it provided.

A spokesperson for Gosh said in a statement: “As part of the review, the RCS raised concerns around the practice of a surgeon who no longer works at the trust, and other practice within the service. We are taking these concerns incredibly seriously.

“We have contacted all patients of the surgeon and a group of independent experts from other paediatric hospitals are reviewing the care of all the patients of this surgeon. We are incredibly sorry for the worry and uncertainty this review may cause them.”

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Source: The Guardian, 8 September 2024