Trust to review claims of multiple cases of patient harm by surgeon

A trust is investigating the work of one of its former consultants amid claims the cases of “significantly more than 50 patients” he treated at its main site and a local private hospital should be reviewed for potential harm, HSJ has learned.

South Tyneside and Sunderland Foundation Trust said it had “liaised” with the nearby Spire Washington Hospital to review patients it may need to contact who were operated on by orthopaedic surgeon Leslie Irwin.

Mr Irwin carried out work at both the trust and the local private hospital, where he also treated NHS-funded patients. The emergence of an investigation into Mr Irwin first emerged earlier this month.

And a law firm acting for patients involved has now told HSJ that it believes “significantly more than 50” patients will need to be investigated.

It said the vast majority of the patients involved were NHS-funded. HSJ understands that those cases treated at the private hospital were mostly referred in by STSFT and that a significant number of the relevant procedures were carried out at the trust.

The firm, Slater and Gordon, said it had already received a “significant” number of enquiries, which were “increasing by the day”. In one case, a woman in her 40s underwent 30 procedures over two decades, the firm said.

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Source: HSJ, 29 January 2026