Claims of pain and paralysis from former patients of surgeon who is under investigation
WOMEN patients of an underreview Derby surgeon claim they have suffered symptoms such as unnecessary pain, infected wounds, burns and been left temporarily paralysed.
Dr Daniel Hay’s treatment of more than 250 women is being reviewed by a health trust over fears it was sub-standard.
Some cases he was the consultant on between 2015 and 2018 are being looked at. But one of more than 30 women who have come forward to local solicitors with concerns over their treatment said she has had constant pain since being operated on by him in 2014.
Mr Hay, from Alfreton, is a former Royal Derby Hospital obstetrics and gynaecology consultant.
Some of his ex-patients have spoken in strict confidentiality to the Local Democracy Reporting Service following Mr Hay being named as a consultant under investigation by the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust and NHS England.
An increasing number of women claiming to have been affected by Mr Hay’s past treatment have now contacted law firms in the area, which are in the process of forming a claims agreement for future potential compensation.
One such firm, Freeths, has said that before the publication of the LDRS’s article naming Mr Hay it had been in contact with six former female patients of his.
Since the publication of that article, and a number of subsequent pieces, more than 30 women have been in touch with the firm to raise concerns, seek advice, and take interest in forming a support group with other women.
Freeths told the LDRS that one woman who contacted them had a hysterectomy and said she woke up following surgery and was unable to walk and that she ended up needing a wheelchair upon discharge.
The woman has since recovered from the alleged temporary paralysis but still has other ongoing pain issues.
One woman claims she had non-sterile material left inside her following an operation by Mr Hay.
A further female patient claims she had her bowel burned following a surgery through use of diathermy, a technique which uses heat generated by an electrical current to cut tissue or seal blood vessels.
Other women told the law firm that they have had significant abdominal pain, infected wounds, uncontrolled and abnormal bleeding problems and severe mental health problems after treatment and operations carried out by Mr Hay. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends that a woman’s ovaries should only be removed if there is a significant risk of associated disease, such as ovarian cancer.
One woman, a patient of Mr Hay’s in 2014, from Ilkeston, told the LDRS that she has been in “constant pain” after having a hysterectomy and her ovaries removed.
She said that she has lost sleep for the past six years since the surgery.
This, she says, includes pain which “shoots” down her right leg, up through to her chest, in her groin area and a “stabbing” effect across the surgical incision. She said: “I am really upset about this. I just want to be able to put my mind to rest. I want answers. People wouldn’t believe the pain I was in after the operation and having talked with friends and family who have also had hysterectomies, my pain is nothing like what they have had.
“I’ve been to a physio but that hasn’t helped.”
The hospital trust is reviewing the treatment given to some patients by Mr Hay and has written to them saying their case will be looked at.
But the former patient said: “I don’t think I am going to be contacted because my operation was in 2014, I just want to find out if anything can be done about my pain and if someone’s error has caused it, to put my mind to rest.
“For six years I have not known if something was wrong with me and if it was something bad and if someone caused it. It is not nice.”
In response to the concerns raised by the Ilkeston patient and the details of cases raised with Freeths, the hospital referred to a previous comment it had issued, not seeking to make any additional statement.
Dr Magnus Harrison, executive medical director, said: “The Trust would like to send our sincere apologies to all of the women that the independent review has identified as being harmed. We are working closely with NHS England to establish the full facts of the care provided by the consultant in question and this investigation is still ongoing.”
Last week, a Derby woman said she is still in “constant pain” two years after the removal of her uterus, fallopian tube and ovaries which she claims is due to “neglect” from Mr Hay in February 2018, just months before he stopped clinical work for the hospital trust.
She alleges that Mr Hay failed to correctly close a blood vessel during the major operation.
Some weeks later, after visiting her GP in distress, she was informed that she had metal staples inside her, which should have been removed several weeks before.
The hospital trust continues to refuse to confirm or deny that Daniel Hay is the consultant involved in the investigation. NHS England and the General Medical Council will also not confirm. Mr Hay has confirmed that he is the former consultant involved in the review.
In an interview with The Times, he has apologised for any harm caused to women under his care and said that he has suffered from mental health issues which saw him stop work and since retire.
The trust says the consultant has not undertaken clinical activity at the organisation since June 2018 and has now left. It too has apologised for the women who have been found to have experienced “unnecessary harm”.
This followed an initial review of 57 cases involving Mr Hay, in April, identified eight lapses of care resulting in “unnecessary harm”.
The review into Mr Hay’s practice covers 2015 to 2018 involving women who had a “major obstetric or gynaecological intervention”.
To date, 272 women have now been sent letters as part of these investigations, including 79 further women involved in intermediate care between April 2017 and June 2018, announced in September.
A review of Mr Hay’s care was triggered in April 2020 by the hospital following concerns raised by his own colleagues in late 2018, more than a year before.
If you have received a letter from the trust in relation to the obstetrics and gynaecology review and would like to discuss your experience as part of a news article please contact Eddie Bisknell via eddie.bisknell@ reachplc.com or on 07500 881496 in the strictest confidence.
I just want to find out if anything can be done about my pain and if someone’s error has caused it. Ex-patient