- By Joe Pike and Charlotte Rolls
- BBC News Evening
A bag of medical samples was found in a man’s stomach after undergoing hernia surgery, the BBC has confirmed.
In the year In 2016, the surgeon who performed the procedure at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton left part of Tom Haddries’ intestine that was cut off during the operation.
According to a hospital incident report shown by BBC Newsnight, the surgeon realized the mistakes while driving home from work.
Sussex Police is investigating at least 105 cases of medical negligence in two surgical teams at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.
The trust said the work of the surgical teams is “continuously and closely monitored” and “we take swift action when our care falls below our highest standards”.
Tom Hadries, a 63-year-old retired engineer, remembers being approached by a doctor as he rolled over in the recovery room bed, where the effects of the general anesthesia were settling in.
Mr Hadris said: “I was conscious, and I heard the surgeon whispering in my ear what must have happened. He said, ‘I’m very sorry’ and I think he said, ‘We’ve made a mistake and I’m going to have to go back to surgery.’
Mr. Hadries later realized that the surgeon had been running the operation in his mind while driving home and what he had done.
“He turned the car around and went back to the hospital,” Mr Hadries said.
The same surgeon performed a second operation to remove the specimen bag and part of the colon that was mistakenly left in the first operation.
Classified by hospital administrators as a “never-event” — something that shouldn’t have happened — it led to a serious incident investigation.
The hospital believes the surgical errors made on Mr Hadries meant his recovery was long. In the year He apologized in 2020 and gave him £15,000.
But the surgeon, who the BBC has not named for legal reasons, carried on and is still working faithfully. After that, he was appointed by a round of consultants against the advice of colleagues who did not think he was qualified enough.
The surgeon’s additional “concern about competence” was highlighted in an email among senior staff. And in the year In 2019, the General Medical Council (GMC), which regulates doctors in the UK, contacted the hospital trust in response to a complaint about the same surgeon.
The trust said the GMC inquiry was not related to patient safety and concluded “there is no case to answer and no action is required”.
In the year In 2022, the Healthcare Quality Commission (CQC) – the independent healthcare watchdog – contacted the hospital trust over concerns about practices carried out by the same surgeon. “The detailed information provided by the trust has assured us that no further action is required from the CQC on that occasion,” the CQC told the BBC.
Junior doctors at the hospital also raised a number of general patient safety concerns – so including the surgeon – with the chief executive and medical officer.
The trainees’ wider concerns – including an “increased mortality rate over the years” – were cited in an independent report from Health Education England.
Professor Cathy Urch, Chief Medical Officer of Sussex NHS Foundation Trust at University Hospitals, said: “Our surgical staff are committed to providing the best and safest care for our patients, often in difficult circumstances.
“Surgeons do not work as individuals, they work collaboratively in teams. Those teams are very skilled, they perform complex operations without any risk.
“Their results are continuous and close – both internally and externally – and when our care falls below our highest standards, we take swift action to learn and improve.”
The BBC has been investigating patient safety issues at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust for ten months.
In the year In 2023, four indicators told the BBC that patients had died for no reason, while others had been “severely maimed”. They also complained about the hackers’ “mafia-like” management culture.
The trust has previously said its main priority is delivering “safe and effective care”, saying the data does not reflect allegations of unnecessary deaths and there is no evidence of a top-down toxic culture.
Mr Hadris told Newsnight about the lasting negative impact on his health eight years after his own surgery.
“I have no doubt that I am suffering,” he says. “I’m sick. Now I have a weak stomach, I can’t lift anything heavy.”