Health officials took months to investigate surgeon Sam Eljamel

Health officials waited six months to speak to the surgeon Sam Eljamel after a complaint was made about his conduct that eventually led to his suspension.

Eljamel, who was head of neurosurgery at NHS Tayside in Dundee between 1995 and 2013, harmed dozens of patients before being suspended in 2013. 

Even as NHS Tayside commissioned an external review into Eljamel’s conduct, the surgeon was not suspended. Instead, the health board allowed him to continue practising as long as he was monitored. However, a letter sent to Eljamel by NHS Tayside’s clinical director, dated June 21, 2013, reveals that the surgeon was able to negotiate the extent of his own supervision.

It was during this period of supervision that Jules Rose attended Ninewells Hospital to have a brain tumour removed by the surgeon. He performed two surgeries on her, in August and December, and she later discovered that he had removed her tear gland instead of the tumour.

Since then she has founded and run the Patient’s Action Group, representing 126 of Eljamel’s patients calling for a public inquiry into how he was able to harm so many patients at NHS Tayside.

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Source: The Times, 25 July 2023