Inquiry calls for victims of surgeon to come forward
VICTIMS of disgraced breast surgeon Ian Paterson have been urged to contact the teaming leading the independent inquiry into his malpractice, which saw hundred of patients undergo botched and unnecessary operations.
Paterson was convicted of 17 counts of wounding with intent and three counts of unlawful wounding against 10 patients in April after a trial at Nottingham Crown Court.
The government announced an independent inquiry into his crimes in December chaired by the Right Reverend Graham James, Bishop of Norfolk. The bishop and his team are now inviting patients and relatives to contact the inquiry, so they the team can establish the most important issues in the investigation.
Mr James said: “We want to hear about the issues former patients of Ian Paterson and their families would like the inquiry to consider, before its detailed terms of reference are finalised.
“At this stage we will not be able to take detailed evidence about what happened and what needs to change. There will be opportunities later for that to happen. Today, we are asking former patients of Ian Paterson and relatives of patients who have died to get in touch with us, to draw our attention to issues they believe should be included in the complete terms of reference.”
Paterson, a former breast surgeon at Solihull Hospital and the privately run Spire Hospitals in Solihull and Little Aston, was finally struck off by the General Medical Council in July after being suspended in 2012.
In August his jail sentence was increased from 15 years to 20 years after the Court of Appeal ruled his sentence was ‘too lenient’.
A report by Sir Ian Kennedy was published in 2013 after an investigation into Paterson’s work at the Heart of England NHS Trust. He accused managers of ‘secrecy and containment’, and found that the rogue surgeon with a ‘God-complex’ could have been stopped by late 2004.
The new inquiry is set to look at information sharing and raising concerns between the NHS and the private sector, the responsibility for the quality of care in the independent sector, and indemnity cover for clinicians in private care.
Victims can go to the website, www.patersoninquiry.org.uk or call 0207 972 1295 or email enquiries@ patersoninquiry.org.uk.