Complaints are rising against former NHS and Spire Healthcare surgeon Leslie Irwin for repeated unnecessary and harmful surgeries, though there are fears that any case might be delayed.
Patient complaints about former NHS and Spire Healthcare surgeon Leslie Irwin are rising, and his work has been identified as being of concern. The consultant orthopaedic surgeon practised at Sunderland Royal Hospital and Spire Washington Hospital.
Having worked at Spire Washington Hospital and for South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust between 2001 and 2023, Irwin retired from the Trust in May 2022.
He was still listed in the Spire directory for 2022 as a specialist in orthopaedics, hand, upper limb, rheumatoid disease, wrist disorders, and arthroscopic surgery. Spire Healthcare suspended Irwin in August 2023 and withdrew his practising privileges in September 2024.
Irwin relinquished his registration with the General Medical Council in May last year.
In the summer of last year, Spire Healthcare began a review of specific procedures performed by Irwin under the National Quality Board Recall Framework of NHS England. So far, Spire has been getting external reports from people who are recognised as medical legal experts, though they have not been shared publicly.
“Spire’s review has highlighted significant concerns about procedures carried out by this hand surgeon over a period that has not yet been clearly defined,” said Alix Cadden Young, head of clinical negligence at solicitors Longden Walker and Renney in Sunderland.
Unnecessary and harmful surgery
Irwin is under investigation for allegedly performing numerous unnecessary and harmful surgeries on multiple patients, many of them over a very long period of time, with no benefit and a fairly flimsy justification, though it is currently unknown exactly how many patients could have been mistreated.
Lawyers are still in the process of working out how many patients are involved, though it is understood to be more than 50.
Clinical negligence specialists at law firm Slater and Gordon are supporting a number of clients who have undergone surgery by Irwin, and one woman, cited by the law firm, had 30 procedures over the course of 20 years, mainly on her wrist, but also some procedures on her hip and shoulder.
The challenge is that any legal action against Irwin is likely to be drawn out.
As John Lowther, senior associate solicitor at Slater and Gordon, told Healthcare Today: “Some of the investigations into the standard of care likely to involve experts specialising in three different fields. While Mr Irwin specialised in hand and wrist surgery, he was doing hip and shoulder surgeries too – sometimes on the same patient over a number of years.”
Such cases, he continued, are complicated because they require the input from a number of experts before the case on liability is fully formed. On top of that, there is the involvement of an NHS Trust, Spire Healthcare and, in some cases, private medical defence indemnifiers.
“Many of the patients now seeking advice placed their trust in what they believed was appropriate and necessary treatment,” says Matilda Blundell, trainee solicitor at specialist medical negligence law firm Tomlin & Partners. “Understandably, they are only now beginning to question whether those procedures should have happened at all. Thorough investigation is essential, not only to understand what happened to each individual patient, but to ensure accountability and improve patient safety moving forward.”
If liability is accepted, identifying which potential defendant – the Trust, Spire and the surgeon himself – is responsible for what harm and quantifying the damages due to each patient is likely to be even more complicated, requiring yet further expert evidence and analysis.
A fly in the ointment
“We need more independent expert evidence to really build up our picture and develop things. Within six to eight months, the position should be much clearer,” Lowther added.
In the meantime, those involved are waiting for the latest Care Quality Commission (CQC) report into the hospital, which inspected Spire Washington Hospital in October last year, as a result of rising publicity about Irwin.
That case, however, has still to be published. The CQC’s last published investigation into Spire Washington Hospital dates from February 2020, and the hospital was rated “good” across the board.
A final potential fly in the ointment that may delay the case is ongoing sale discussions about Spire Healthcare, which kicked off in September last year. Long regarded as a takeover target, over the weekend, it emerged that Bridgepoint and Triton Partners are among the private equity firms in early discussions to acquire the group.
Although these discussions are only at what Spire calls a “preliminary” stage, movement will become clearer towards the end of February when a firm statement of intent from interested bidders is expected. Any sale will inevitably delay any legal case.
Fletcher’s, Longden Walker and Renney, and Slater and Gordon are representing multiple clients thought to have been affected.
