Orthopaedic review

We have undertaken to provide quarterly updates to patients and their families who are waiting for their care to be reviewed. The first of these was sent in July.

In October we wrote to all families and asked if they wanted to receive a copy of the College’s Report. This replaced October’s quarterly update as we were mindful of not sending too many letters in close succession.

The next quarterly update will be in January 2025.

We continue to share the independent experts’ reviews with individual patients and families as we receive them. This work is ongoing.

If you would prefer not to receive quarterly updates please contact our PALS team:

Telephone: 020 7829 7862

Email: PALS@gosh.nhs.uk

A group of independent Paediatric Orthopaedic Consultants from other UK hospitals are carrying out the review of the care of all patients who were treated at our hospital by the surgeon in question.

Two senior clinical colleagues have completed an initial assessment to review the level of care each patient has received, so the independent experts can review patients in order of clinical priority. This means looking at those who we are most concerned about first.

As of 18 October 2024, 61 patients have been reviewed.

Going forward, we will update those who are waiting for care to reviewed on the progress of the work via the quarterly updates.

We anticipate the whole review process could take up to 18 months to complete. It is essential these reviews are thorough and that each patient and family receive the information they need, but we understand they need answers as quickly as possible and so we are recruiting as many experts as we can.

Reviews such as this are an important part of our work to ensure the safety and quality of our services.

We asked the Royal College of Surgeons (the College) to review our Paediatric Orthopaedic service, after concerns were raised by a number of our patient families and staff.

The College conducted the review, which we are sharing with you, and in addition carried out a separate clinical record review of a number of patients.

In addition to asking the College to review our service, we also contacted the General Medical Council, which regulates doctors, and the Care Quality Commission, which regulates healthcare, to inform them of initial concerns that were raised about the surgeon.

The surgeon in question has not worked at Great Ormond Street Hospital since October 2022.

The Report is available via our Public Trust Board papers for 24 October, but you can also contact our PALS team:

Telephone: 020 7829 7862

Email: PALS@gosh.nhs.uk

The Report looks at the wider service and we would like to reassure families it does not contain any information about specific patients.

We appreciate the Report may contain content which will be worrying for our patients and their families but we would like to assure you that we are working at pace to address the reviewers’ recommendations to improve the service. The Care Quality Commission – our regulator, NHS England and the College receive regular updates on our progress.  They are satisfied with the steps we are taking to improve the service and at no stage have they asked us to review any patients over and above those seen by the surgeon in question or pause the service.

It is also useful to share that the Report also spoke of the many committed staff we have in the Orthopaedic service who work their hardest every day to give the best possible care to their patients. They commented on how, despite the challenge and constraints set out in the Report, they were impressed by the quality and standard of care being provided by staff, and their passion and commitment towards providing excellent support and communication to patients and their families, as well as to each other.

Thousands of patients are treated at GOSH every year and the overwhelming majority have a positive experience at our hospital. We ask all of our patients to complete our Friends and Family test and from April to September 2024, 99.3% of people who were treated on Sky Ward (where orthopaedic patients are treated) said they would recommend the service to their friends and family.

We understand there are practices in the Report which are worrying and not what a patient would expect when being treated at our hospital.

The College made a number of recommendations regarding the Orthopaedic Service as a whole, and by us addressing these recommendations the service will be strengthened and the care we provide to you/your child, and those receiving care by the orthopaedic team in the future, will improve.

After receiving the Report, we informed the College we would review the care given to all patients seen by the surgeon in question. The College did not recommend we review any other care provided by the service.

It is important families feel able to raise issues, regardless of which clinician or service you may be under at GOSH, so if the Report has prompted concerns please contact our Patient Advice Liaison Service (PALS):

Telephone: 020 7829 7862

Email: PALS@gosh.nhs.uk

As part of its review, the RCS raised concerns regarding the medical practice of an orthopaedic surgeon.

We then commissioned independent experts from other UK hospitals to look at the care given to individual patients who were treated by the surgeon at GOSH.

We are aware that some GOSH patients have also been treated by this surgeon at other hospitals in the UK, and we want to be sure we’re looking at the care provided to these patients by the surgeon, both at GOSH and at other hospitals . As we conduct the review, we want to be sure that we are looking at all the care that was provided by the surgeon. To do this we are working with the other four hospitals we know this surgeon worked at. These hospitals are:

• The Portland Hospital
• Cromwell Hospital
• St John and St Elizabeth Hospital London
• Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

GOSH will hold a register of all patients treated by this surgeon across these hospitals in the UK. Together we will carry out a tightly-controlled exercise to match a limited amount of patient data. When we know a patient has only been treated by GOSH, we will not share any identifiable information about them with other hospitals. If, however, a patient was treated at other hospitals by this orthopaedic surgeon, limited data will be shared to enable us to review the care in the most comprehensive way possible.

Please see the GOSH privacy notice for more information.