Great Ormond Street apologises after children suffer ‘serious injuries’ under surgeon

A leading NHS children’s hospital is reviewing the care received by 721 patients after an investigation found children treated by one of its surgeons suffered “serious injuries” during limb reconstruction operations.

Great Ormond Street Hospital (Goh) in London has offered its “sincere apologies” to children who, in some cases, suffered lifelong damage, according to the Sunday Times.

Some children were left with one leg up to 8 inches shorter than the other, the article reported, while others continue to suffer chronic pain years after their treatment, and one child had to have a limb amputated, something experts say could have been prevented later.

An external review into the care of 39 of the 721 patients found that 13 patients suffered ‘serious harm’, nine others suffered ‘low/moderate harm’, while two cases were referred for peer review and the remaining 15 suffered no harm.

The children were reportedly treated by Yaser Jabbar, an orthopaedic surgeon. Jabbar’s behaviour became a concern after the hospital asked the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) in 2022 to investigate the performance of its paediatric surgery department and patient outcomes after staff and families raised concerns about the quality of care provided.

A Gosh spokesperson said in a statement: “As part of the review, the RCS raised concerns about the practice of a surgeon who no longer works at the trust, and other practices within the service. We take these concerns incredibly seriously.

“We have contacted all of the surgeon’s patients and a panel of independent experts from other children’s hospitals are reviewing the care of all of this surgeon’s patients. We regret the concerns and uncertainty this review may cause them.”

One of the 13 children who suffered “serious injuries” was just four months old, the Sunday Times reported.

The hospital is facing questions about how it handled concerns about Jabbar after a number of parents reported the hospital was slow to respond and unresponsive to their complaints.

The father-of-one told the newspaper he believed “everything was swept under the carpet” by Gosh when he first raised his concerns. “We tried repeatedly to raise our concerns through the official complaints procedure and I copied the clinical director on many emails but heard nothing back,” the anonymous parent said.

The hospital rejected the claims. It said senior management decided to ask the RCS to conduct a full investigation 18 working days after becoming aware of the concerns of staff and families.

In April, the hospital launched an “orthopaedic service improvement program,” which oversees ongoing work to assess Jabbar’s patients “and broader work to improve service delivery.”

The RCS found that Gosh’s orthopaedic surgery department was “dysfunctional”, that the trust was being run “like a political organisation” and that consultants were behaving in ways that were “old-fashioned”, “unacceptable” and “hierarchical”, the Sunday Times reported. Parents were “terrified” of Jabbar and some asked for other surgeons to treat their children.

Gosh promised swift corrective action in his statement, adding: “We will ensure that all findings from this investigation are addressed promptly and we will reflect on all the broader lessons we have learned about our culture.”

Parents of some of the affected children have taken legal action against Gosh. Caroline Murgatroyd of Hudgell Solicitors, who is representing them, said there had been “serious failings in the care of many patients over a number of years”.

Jaber, who is believed to be working in Dubai, did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment. Jaber did not work for the trust for 11 months before he moved abroad, but he was still paid his full salary, the newspaper added.