A number of the people alleging Ian Stuart Paterson conducted ‘unnecessary’ breast surgery are male and ‘cleavage sparing’ operations were conducted by Mr Paterson after he was told to stop, Thompsons Solicitors can confirm.

The man who a national newspaper reported at the weekend as having been given a lumpectomy by Mr Paterson is not the only male patient to have come forward.

Thompsons Solicitors is handling several male cases, among more than 250 altogether, including the claim by James Fernihough, who was quoted in The Sun on Saturday.

Linda Milland, senior medical negligence solicitor at the firm, said: “Cases are coming in all the time. As of Friday, as well as Mr Fernihough, we were dealing with the cases of six men who have had surgery under Mr Paterson.

Cleavage sparing mastectomies

Meanwhile, the firm is dealing with two cases of women who had cleavage sparing mastectomies (CSM) after Mr Paterson had been told to stop using the procedure by the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust in 2007. He continued to work at the Trust until May 2011.

In one of the cases, Mr Paterson carried out a CSM on a woman in November 2010, approximately three years after he was supposed to have stopped. She had to have the residual tissue removed earlier this year.

In another case, a woman had a CSM in 2009, two years after he should have stopped. She has subsequently died but her death was not connected with the CSM procedure.

Thompsons is co-operating closely with the General Medical Council and the police to ensure they are aware of issues that may affect their inquiries.

“It’s extremely concerning he continued to carry out a procedure that was unrecognised when he had been specifically told to stop and given an undertaking to do so,” said Kashmir Uppal.

“Our clients have been given no explanation as to why he was allowed to carry on performing this procedure and are concerned it took so long to pick up the fact he was continuing.”

Thompsons has set up a helpline for women who may be affected – 0800 0 224 224.