Doctor at same firm as butcher surgeon ‘ botched operations’

A DOCTOR who worked at the same private healthcare firm as the rogue breast cancer surgeon Ian Paterson has been accused of a string of botched operations.

Michael Walsh, a shoulder surgeon, was employed at a hospital run by Spire Healthcare, and has been accused of leaving scores of patients traumatised and in pain after performing unnecessary operations on them.

Disgraced Paterson, who was jailed for 20 years in 2017 after mutilating hundreds of women on the operating table, also worked for Spire. The firm, which runs 39 private hospitals in the UK and employs 7,000 doctors and surgeons, reported Mr Walsh to the General Medical Council after multiple patients and some colleagues raised concerns about his work.

An Spire investigation uncovered examples of Mr Walsh harming patients by performing surgery on them unnecessarily or badly, The Guardian reported.

The company said it had reviewed the notes of almost 200 patients that it had concerns about, and invited almost 50 people back for a follow up appointment. Mr Walsh is facing dozens of lawsuits from patients who claim that he performed surgery on them between 2012 and 2018 without any medical justification.

The cases involved private and NHS patients.

Many of the procedures were performed at the Spire hospital in Leeds, but others were reportedly done at another independent hospital in the city run by private healthcare group Nuffield Health. Mr Walsh has since retired and is no longer licensed to practise as a doctor. A number of Spire surgeons have faced allegations about unnecessary or inadequate operations in recent years.

Linda Millband, a medical negligence lawyer at Thompsons solicitors, said: ‘Yet again it is Spire and yet again there is an unsupervised surgeon providing treatment that a patient didn’t need.

‘First Paterson, then [Habib] Rahman [another shoulder surgeon accused of performing unnecessary operations at a Spire hospital], and now Walsh. It’s an issue that clearly extends beyond Spire’s operation in the Midlands that they need to get a grip on.’

Paterson practised at both private and NHS hospitals in the West Midlands and exaggerated or invented cancer risks among his patients. After being convicted, details emerged about his lavish property portfolio and love of expensive paintings and fine wine.

A investigation concluded that a culture of ‘denial’ enabled Paterson to do more than 1,000 botched or unnecessary operations over 14 years. There have been calls for an inquiry into the private health sector, and the financial incentives surgeons may have to recommend and perform operations.

A Spire spokesman said: ‘After concerns were raised about Mr Walsh, an investigation was started in April 2018, and he was suspended immediately. Spire reiterates its sincere apologies to those patients... affected.’

Mills and Reeve, the lawyers acting for Mr Walsh, said they had ‘no comment to make on this matter’.