Private hospitals should be encouraged to publish information on their safety, according to the leader of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, to prevent another scandal like the one involving jailed breast cancer surgeon Ian Paterson.
“The surgical community was deeply shocked by the case of Ian Paterson, the surgeon convicted of intentionally wounding patients by carrying out unnecessary breast surgery operations,” said Prof Derek Alderson, president of the organisation.
Paterson worked at the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust and also at private hospitals Spire Parkway and Spire Little Aston. Paterson invented or exaggerated the risk of cancer to patients and then carried out unnecessary mastectomies. In 2017 he was found guilty of 17 charges of intentionally wounding his patients and sentenced to 15 years in prison, later increased to 20. In September 2017, the high court approved payments to 750 patients totalling £37m.
Full Story: The Guardian, 10th April 2019
