Leslie Irwin is the subject of a “patient recall notice” at one private hospital. The NHS is working with the Royal College of Surgeons on patients a trust ‘will need to review’. More than 100 of Irwin’s former patients have come forward in an ‘unprecedented’ move.
More than 100 of a surgeon‘s ex-patients have come forward as he faces an investigation into his work, the Sunday Mirror can reveal. Leslie Irwin is the subject of a “patient recall notice” at one private hospital. And the NHS is working with the Royal College of Surgeons to determine which patients a trust ‘will need to review’.
Our probe established that more than 100 of Irwin’s former patients have come forward in an ‘unprecedented’ demand for legal advice. One man said he ‘worshipped’ Irwin, who retired from the NHS in 2022 after more than 30 years service. He was like a ‘father figure’ to other patients.
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David Render, 64, is in constant pain after numerous operations on his wrists, elbows and fingers.
Between 2018 and 2022, Irwin, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon practicing at the private Spire Washington Hospital and Sunderland Royal NHS Hospital, performed numerous procedures on him. On two occasions, screws were allegedly left sticking out of David’s fingers after surgery, requiring emergency removal.
After initially seeking medical attention for wrist damage sustained in a 2017 fall, David was referred to Mr. Irwin by his initial surgeon. He struggles with day-to-day tasks after damaging his wrists and the pain and lack of sleep made him so irritable that it contributed to the breakdown of his marriage. The father of two, from Washington, Tyne and Wear, said: “I worshipped him. He was always smiling, always happy, he could not do enough for you. I had a series of operations over four years. Sometimes he performed more than one procedure. “I never questioned it as I thought he was doing it to save time and money and that it was for the best.
“On two occasions screws were left sticking out of the bones in my fingers. They had not attached properly.
“I trusted him to put right what was wrong. But knowing what I know now, it seems that was not the case.” Mr. Irwin also performed more than 20 procedures on Rebecca Williams. The mum-of-two, from Sunderland, has lasting damage to her wrist and arm. They first met when she was just 12 years old, shortly after breaking her wrist. She had 12 operations, primarily at Spire Washington Hospital, where Mr. Irwin is now being investigated. In 2017, at only 21 years old, she brought up amputation because of the pain. She was persuaded against that before undergoing further surgeries between 2018 and 2020. She lives in constant pain, has developed arthritis, and was previously addicted to the tramadol prescribed to her.
John Lowther, a clinical negligence solicitor leading Slater and Gordon’s investigations into Mr Irwin, said: “In just a few weeks, the scale of former patients coming forward to us has been unprecedented; I have not seen anything like this in my career.
“Clearly, very significant concerns are being raised to us, with common themes emerging including multiple surgeries on the same body part, and very poor surgical outcomes.
“Our investigations will continue for some time, but what we have seen so far has been alarming.”
Our sister paper the Daily Mirror reported on another Irwin patient, Georgia Spargo, 28, also of Sunderland, who was initially told her arm would need to be amputated before a second surgeon informed her that amputation was unnecessary.
She said: “He just put his hand on top of mine, looked into my eyes and said, ‘You need to think about an amputation. “Get rid of the hand, get rid of the problem and you are not going to have that wrist pain. I was terrified.”
Mr Irwin’s wife, a retired nurse, denied the allegations against her husband. She said: “No doctor can speak because of the General Medical Council rules. He does not have a right of reply. He requested to leave the medical register. “This is so nasty, it is 40 years of someone’s career smashed by innuendo on social media which we don’t even know about. It is the most horrible thing. I was a nurse myself and you would not cut off somebody’s arm or even suggest it. “If you cut something off, you still feel pain from the stump. It is called phantom pain. I can guarantee that my husband never offered amputation; he would never have done that. So that is the other side of it.” Medical negligence lawyers said an “unprecedented” number of Irwin’s former patients have come forward since the case came to light. Law firm Slater and Gordon has acted for Mr. Irwin’s patients for several months. Kate O’Brien, their specialist clinical negligence lawyer, said: “Understandably, Rebecca has many questions about the surgery and care she received. “We will support her in finding the answers she needs and deserves. We are committed to supporting as many people as possible in finding out what went so wrong in their care.”
A Spire spokesperson said “We are currently reviewing specific procedures provided to a select cohort of patients of Mr. Leslie Irwin, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon who previously practised at Spire Washington Hospital. “We are in direct contact with all relevant patients to review their care and offer support at what we recognise is a concerning time.” South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust added: “We are liaising with Spire in relation to concerns over Mr. Leslie Irwin and currently working through the detail of which patients the Trust will need to review. “We have also asked the Royal College of Surgeons to support us in this process. As part of this review, we will be in touch with any former patients directly and as a matter of priority.” *Ex-patients can contact the Trust via freephone 0800 587 6513 or email: [email protected], or call Spire on 0191 720 3031 or email [email protected].
