Investigations launched into potential harm at children’s service

A major acute trust has launched two reviews over care failures potentially affecting 130 children, HSJ has learned.

Nottingham University Hospitals Trust wrote to everyone on the list for its scoliosis service to inform them that it had launched an internal investigation and commissioned a separate external review.

It said, “some patients may not have received the level of medical monitoring that we would expect whilst they were waiting for surgery.”

In the letter sent on Friday, seen by HSJ, NUH chief operating officer Andrew Hall said the trust was “truly sorry”. It said it was not aware of specific concerns about their care, but was “seeking additional external reassurance”.

In 43 of the cases, however, the trust said “immediate concern has been identified” – such as longer waits for monitoring – and in these “we have [already] reached out to those patients and their parents/carers to consider next steps.”

HSJ understands NUH discovered that missed appointments may have been discovered at the end of last year, and the internal review took place earlier this year. However, it did not contact most of the families until nine months later. It has not explained the delay.

It said it does not yet know the level of any harm caused. However, children whose scoliosis goes unmonitored risk deteriorating to the point where intervention becomes more complex.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: HSJ, 22 September 2026