Spire Leeds: Hospital delayed telling patients about surgeon concerns

Upper limb orthopaedic consultant Mike Walsh worked at Spire Leeds Hospital in Roundhay

A private hospital has been ordered to pay £20,000 after it delayed telling patients about a surgeon's bad practice in the first prosecution of its kind.

Upper limb orthopaedic consultant Mike Walsh worked at the Spire Leeds Hospital from 1993 until he was suspended in 2018, a judge was told.

Leeds Magistrates' Court heard worries had been raised by multiple sources about his methods and surgery in 2017.

Spire apologised to the four patients for the delay in communication.

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The firm, which runs 39 hospitals across the UK, pleaded guilty to four counts of "non-compliance with the duty of candour".

Duty of candour legislation requires open and transparent communication with patients under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.

Spire has 39 hospitals across the UK and one specialist cancer centre.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC), which brought the case, said it was the first prosecution of its kind against an independent healthcare provider.

Spire was ordered to pay costs of £14,984.36 and fined £5,000. It must also pay a victim surcharge of £120.

The court heard how four patients had to wait too long before they were properly informed of the "potential harm" caused by Mr Walsh.

Concerns were raised about his outdated methods and questionable surgery in 2017 by a number of sources, including a fellow upper limb specialist and physiotherapists he worked with.

Ryan Donaghue, prosecuting, said a review of Mr Walsh's work found a pattern of poor practice, including performing some procedures which should have been referred to other specialists.

He explained how one patient was seen 111 times by Mr Walsh over a number of years and underwent 14 operations on her shoulder, elbow and wrist but was still in pain when her case was finally reviewed by another doctor.

Mr Walsh was suspended by the company in 2018 and later retired, the court heard.

In 2020, Spire Healthcare said it had reviewed the treatment of Mr Walsh's patients and "fewer than 50" had been invited back for a follow-up appointment.

'Not open or transparent'

District Judge Susan Bouch told the court she was satisfied it was not a case of a company attempting to "cover up their failures".

"Instead, I find this to be a case where the company's procedures were either insufficient at the time or not adhered to," she said.

Alison Dickinson, group clinical director at Spire Healthcare, said: "We regret that we missed opportunities to act promptly to inform four patients of failings in the care provided by their consultant.

"We investigated those incidents, apologised to the four patients, and offered each of them the opportunity to discuss their concerns, but we fully accept that we did not do this as promptly as we should have done."