Great Ormond Street apologises after children suffered 'severe harm' under surgeon

A leading NHS children’s hospital is reviewing the care 721 patients received after an investigation found that children treated by one of its surgeons came to “severe harm” during limb reconstruction operations.

Great Ormond Street hospital (Gosh), London, has offered its “sincere apologies” to children who have suffered what the Sunday Times reported was lifelong damage in some cases.

Some of the children were left with one leg up to 20cm shorter than the other, the newspaper reported, while others are still in chronic pain years after their treatment. One child had a limb amputated, an outcome that experts said later could have been avoided.

An external review of the care of 39 of the 721 patients found that 13 came to “severe harm”, another nine suffered “low/moderate harm”, while two cases have been referred for peer review, and the other 15 experienced no harm. One of the 13 children who suffered “severe harm” was just four months old.

The children are reported to have been treated by a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Yaser Jabbar, whose behaviour became a concern after the hospital asked the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) to investigate its paediatric surgery department’s performance and patient outcomes in 2022 after staff and families expressed concerns about its quality of care.

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

“We have contacted all patients of the surgeon and a group of independent experts from other paediatric hospitals are reviewing the care of all the patients of this surgeon. We are incredibly sorry for the worry and uncertainty this review may cause them.”

The hospital is facing questions about its handling of the concerns about Jabbar after some parents said it was slow to act and unresponsive when they complained.

The father of one child told the newspaper that he believed that “everything was being brushed under the carpet” by Gosh when he first aired his concerns. “We tried to raise our concerns repeatedly through the official complaints procedure, and I copied the clinical director into many emails, but heard nothing back.”

The hospital rejected the claims and said senior management decided to ask the RCS to undertake an in-depth review 18 working days after becoming aware of staff and families’ concerns.

In April, the hospital instigated an “orthopaedic service review improvement programme”. It is overseeing the review of Jabbar’s patients “and wider service improvement work.”

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

Gosh’s statement promised quick remedial action and added: “We will ensure that all the findings of this review are addressed at pace, and we will reflect on any wider learnings around our culture.”

Jabbar, who is believed to be working in Dubai, did not respond to the newspaper’s request to comment. He is understood to have not worked at the trust but been on full pay for 11 months before he moved abroad.

Parents of some of the children affected have started legal action against Gosh.