Hundreds recalled over shoulder op concerns at Walsall hospital

Up to 600 patients are to be recalled by a hospital after concerns were raised about shoulder operations.

Some patients have lost the use of their arm after surgery by Mian Munawar Shah at Walsall Manor Hospital.

Angela Glover and Martin Crowley live with constant pain and mental health struggles and are unable to sleep.

Mr Shah has been suspended. The hospital trust has set up a helpline and will send hundreds of letters to patients who may have been affected.

Walsall Manor Hospital is to write to 600 patients

Ms Glover had two operations by Mr Shah - the first, it later emerged after a review, was unnecessary and a screw had been placed inappropriately.

Her partner Simon Roberts said she was in "constant pain" and was unable to raise her arm or grip things in her right hand.

It has affected her mental health to the point she had to be sectioned after a suicide attempt, Mr Roberts added.

"Angela's not confident to hold a baby and that's very frustrating if you can't pick your grandchildren up and hold them.

"I see the tears in her eyes sometimes and that breaks my heart too."

Since problems were noticed, the couple have been trying to seek answers but Mr Roberts said: "We've had to fight and demand every step of the way and I'm still not sure we've been told what's happened - we've still not had any proper explanation."

Martin Crowley is unable to lift his arm above his shoulder

Mr Crowley had an operation in 2019 after dislocating his shoulder - Mr Shah then replaced the joint when the first operation was unsuccessful. Since then, he said he struggled with basic tasks such as buttoning up a shirt or holding a cup of tea.

"It's affecting me quite bad, there's a lot of stuff I want to do that I can't do," he said.

Joanne Aldridge was privately operated on by Mr Shah in 2010 at a hospital run by Spire Healthcare.

The trust admitted liability and she has since received compensation after he severed her radial nerve, which left her in terrible pain and unable to lift her arm.

In 2016, after Ms Aldridge's payout, she wrote to the General Medical Council's fitness to practise department asking it to investigate Mr Shah for what had happened, because she said she felt sure she was not the only one.

The GMC declined, saying her operation was longer than five years ago and the Walsall trust had given Mr Shah a clean bill of health during a revalidation process in 2014.

Joanne Aldridge six years ago asked the General Medical Council to investigate Mr Shah

Ms Aldridge added: "I tried to stop him because I knew that I wasn't the first and I wouldn't be the last. I tried to get something done so others didn't have their lives ruined."

Between 2010 and 2018 there were 21 medical negligence claims relating to Mr Shah's surgery.

In 2020, Walsall Healthcare Trust contacted the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) which carried out a general review of surgery and then a further review into Mr Shah's individual work.

A recall of his patients was recommended by the RCS.

'Why was he not stopped?'

The surgeon has been given an interim order by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), stopping him from doing laterjet procedures or shoulder joint replacements without supervision.

The MPTS has not commented on its decision not to take Ms Aldridge's 2016 complaint further. It said the High Court had extended interim measures on Mr Shah that had been imposed in 2021.

Medical director at the Walsall trust Dr Manjeet Shehmar told the BBC there had been a failure to carry out multi-disciplinary team meetings and some of the procedures should have been performed in a specialist orthopaedic hospital rather than at Walsall Manor.

Chief executive David Loughton, who took over last year, said the trust was not aware of any issues to do with Mr Shah's surgery on knee or hip joints.

For the affected patients, there are questions about how risks were not spotted sooner.

"How has this surgeon been allowed to carry on for 15 years and be in a position three years ago to operate on my partner?," Mr Roberts said.

"Why was he not stopped before? How was he allowed to carry on unchecked and no-one has noticed anything? I find that very hard."

'Changed their lives'

Mr Loughton apologised to patients and added he had "personally met with some of those patients and I am acutely aware of the debilitating effects that this has had on them and how in a lot of cases it has changed their lives".

A Spire Healthcare spokesperson said: "Mr Munawar Shah has not practised at Spire Little Aston since March 2020.

"We have liaised closely with the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust throughout their review of his practice, and continue to do so.

"We are reviewing whether we need to contact and offer support to patients who had particular treatments with Mr Shah at Spire.

"We understand the distress and uncertainty this may cause to patients. Patient safety and the quality of the care we provide to patients remains Spire Healthcare's highest priority."

Mr Shah's solicitor said as matters were ongoing it would be "inappropriate to comment".

• The helpline number set up by Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is 01922 604631 and the trust can also be contacted via email: [e-mail]