Exclusive:
A scathing public inquiry report made 15 recommendations to ministers, NHS and private healthcare bosses to protect patients from rogue docs – but five years on, not one has been fully carried out
Victims of butcher breast surgeon Ian Paterson say patients are still at risk – five years after an inquiry vowed to clamp down on rogue medics.
Paterson is serving 20 years after being jailed in 2017 for 20 counts of wounding. A scathing public inquiry report in 2020 found the surgeon performed needless operations on at least 1,000 women over 14 years.
It made 15 recommendations to ministers, NHS and private healthcare bosses to protect patients from rogue docs. Five years on, we can reveal not one has been fully carried out.
One of Paterson’s victims, Debbie Douglas, said Paterson was due for parole in 2027 so could walk free before the recommendations are implemented. She said it was “deeply concerning” that one recommendation – to suspend medics under investigation – had been rejected.
Debbie, 66, said other cases showed serious harm continued for years while investigations were under way. “Immediate suspension of healthcare professionals when there is a perceived risk to patient safety must be standard practice to prevent further harm,” she said.
Other advice yet to be fully implemented is to ensure patient consent is obtained before ops. Between 1997 and 2011, Paterson treated thousands at Spire Parkway and Spire Little Aston hospitals in the West Midlands. Former bishop of Norwich the Rt Rev Graham James, who chaired the inquiry, said: “It is difficult to exaggerate the damage done, including to trust in medical organisations and clinicians.”
Paterson refused to give evidence at the start of inquests into the deaths of 62 of his patients in October, despite orders to do so.
The Mirror contacted the government for comment.
