The families of children injured at Great Ormond Street Hospital are urging the hospital to publish a report commissioned last year after concerns were raised about a surgeon working there.
The hospital has launched an urgent investigation into the care of 721 children treated by orthopedic surgeon Yaser Jabbar over the past five years.
The hospital had previously commissioned a Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) review of its paediatric orthopaedic service in 2022, “after concerns were raised by a number of our patient families and staff”.
A lawyer representing the children’s families is now urging Great Ormond Street to publish the findings, which have been seen by The Sunday Times.
The newspaper reported that the 100-page document concluded that top executives had “clearly failed in their responsibilities” and that the hospital’s orthopedic department was “currently not safe for patients”.
Caroline Murgatroyd is a senior associate solicitor at Hudgell Solicitors who represents families of children with leg length discrepancies, nerve damage and, in one case, an amputation. She told Times Radio: “There’s been reference to this … report that was done last year. Now that report hasn’t been made public – I haven’t seen it, the families haven’t seen it.
“I understand that the report addresses some of the failings of the department and describes some of the reports that have been made by staff. And there is a real lack of information at the moment about when the concerns were first raised, how they were dealt with … so I would really encourage Great Ormond Street to make that report public.”
She added that it is “very, very important that (families) understand how this happened and how it could have gone on for so long”.
While she praised the hospital’s work in reviewing individual patients’ medical records and reporting on identified deficiencies in care, she said there could be more transparency “in terms of the broader departmental issues of what was actually going on at the hospital and the board”.
“That’s really important for families because they want to know why this happened and what events led up to all of this, and then we can also make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” she said.
Murgatroyd said allegations made by some of the families she represents include: “incorrect choice of surgery; surgery performed to an unreasonable standard; failure to advise parents of the risks and benefits of whether or not to have surgery, and thus failure to obtain informed consent.”
Of the 39 cases assessed by Great Ormond Street so far in an expected 18-month process, 15 patients had suffered no harm, nine had suffered “mild to moderate harm” and 13 had suffered “severe harm” – likely to include lifelong injuries, the hospital said.
A hospital spokesman said: “We have contacted all patients and families affected and where harm has been identified we have discussed their cases with them, as part of our duty of openness.
“The full report contains personally identifiable information relating to patients and staff and it would not be appropriate to share this.
“However, the trust plans to share the contents of an executive summary via our publicly available governance documents on 24 December. The public release of this information must be timed to take into account patient communications, which remains our priority.”
Jabbar, who lives in Dubai and no longer works at the London hospital, is said to be an expert in limb reconstruction but has not been licensed to practice medicine in the UK since January 8, according to the General Medical Council website. He has been contacted for comment.