Private hospital group Spire Healthcare faces fresh allegations of allowing unnecessary surgeries at its hospitals as news of another patient recall emerges.

Spire Healthcare has already been exposed and widely criticised for allowing surgeons to give patients unnecessary surgical treatment at its hospitals in the Midlands. This includes infamous disgraced breast surgeon Ian Paterson who practiced at Spire Parkway and Spire Little Aston, and more recently orthopaedic consultant, Mr Habib Rahman, who is currently at the centre of a patient recall at Spire Parkway and subject to investigation by the General Medical Council (GMC).

Thompsons Solicitors acted for 650 ex-patients in claims against Spire involving Mr Paterson, is representing more than 30 ex-patients of Mr Habib and has today revealed it is also advising a patient recalled by Spire Leeds Hospital.

The firm argues that this is evidence of a familiar pattern of unnecessary, and ineffectual, surgical treatment at Spire Healthcare from a consultant now under investigation by the GMC.

Thompsons has seen a letter sent by Spire Leeds Hospital to a former patient of Mr Michael Walsh, which concedes that surgical treatment provided by the consultant for a shoulder injury did not appear to “fully address the potential areas of pathology” and that physiotherapy had not been offered “given the importance of rehabilitation” in his case.

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Linda Millband, national practice lead for medical negligence at Thompsons Solicitors, said: “Yet again it is Spire and yet again there is an unsupervised surgeon providing treatment that a patient didn’t need. First Paterson, then Rahman and now Walsh: it’s a systemic issue that clearly extends beyond Spire’s operation in the Midlands that they need to get a grip on.

“We say to Spire - admit you have a problem with your systems. This is the third lightning strike in as many weeks and it’s time for the powers that be to stop leaking out recalls and come clean.”

Mr Michael Walsh was suspended from practice in April 2018, and is currently subject to investigation by the GMC – although he has since retired from practising medicine. Thompsons is urging affected patients to come forward and seek medical and legal advice – fearing this issue is just the tip of yet another iceberg at a Spire hospital.

“Spire Healthcare tries to keep patient recalls under the radar and, just like Paterson and Rahman they keep them off their websites. Who’s to say our client’s experience with Mr Walsh is an isolated incident?” continued Linda Millband.

“It seems unlikely that they were alone in receiving negligent care from Mr Walsh, so we are encouraging people who have been treated by him prior to his dismissal in April 2018 to come forward and seek advice.”

Patients who received shoulder surgery at Spire Leeds Hospital from Mr Michael Walsh can contact Thompsons Solicitors for free, no obligation advice on their legal rights on 0800 0 224 224.