Addenbrooke's surgeon suspended after performing wrong operation

Alan Norrish tried to cover up his mistake by performing another operation

An orthopaedic surgeon falsified records and lied to a patient after he performed the wrong operation on her.

Alan Norrish admitted performing the wrong type of partial knee replacement on his patient in January 2018 at the Nuffield Hospital in Cambridge.

Having realised his mistake the former Addenbrooke's consultant tried to cover it up by falsifying records and doing "revision" surgery six days later.

Mr Norrish has been suspended for a year following a medical tribunal.

He told the hearing of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) he was "shocked" and "upset" when he realised his mistake.

It was found he had lied in a letter to a hospital matron about the reason for the second operation, which was carried out on 25 January 2018.

'Out of character'

It was not until 8 March 2018 that Mr Norrish reported the mistake to the hospital. He failed on 11 occasions to tell the patient about his error.

Mr Norrish, who referred himself to the General Medical Council (GMC), said he had taken on too much work and this contributed to his mistake.

Nuffield Health, which runs the hospital, said Mr Norrish was immediately suspended from practising there.

In March, Mr Norrish was dismissed by Addenbrooke's following an internal disciplinary hearing.

He had worked there since 2010 after qualifying as a doctor in 1999.

Colleagues said his conduct was "out of character" and that he was "an excellent physician".

The tribunal ruled that his actions amounted to serious misconduct. He has 28 days to appeal.