Timeline of breast surgeon Ian Paterson’s crimes as 1,500 more patients recalled

A further 1,500 patients treated by convicted breast surgeon Ian Paterson have been recalled, said Spire Healthcare.

The health company which runs private hospitals where Paterson was a consultant, said they were getting in touch with more patients he treated. This comes months after coroners opened inquests in relation to his former patients who have died.

The breast surgeon has been jailed for 20 years in 2017 for 17 counts of wounding people with intent. Spire Healthcare said it has been getting in touch with his patients after finding an old database.

Paterson, originally from Bangor in Northern Ireland, used to practice in Birmingham and Solihull hospitals and subjected more than 1,000 patients to surgery they did not require over 14 years.

A spokesperson for Spire Healthcare said: “Having contacted 5,500 patients of Ian Paterson over the past two years to check that their care has been reviewed, Spire Healthcare is contacting a further group of Paterson patients.” You can read the full statement below.

Linda Millband, head of clinical negligence at Thompsons Solicitors, which represented hundreds of Paterson’s clients, told the BBC: “The fact that 1,500 patients could have been missed off both previous recalls shows how extensively Spire enabled Paterson to practise.

“For patients who have suffered from his negligence and for those who have lost loved ones, this recall will bring back bitter memories. You would have thought that after two recalls Spire would not have left any stone unturned, yet they missed at least 1,500 people due to a computer glitch. It begs the question - ‘what next’?”

Here is a timeline of how Paterson was allowed to continue operating on women for years:

December 2007

The chief executive of Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (HEFT) - which included Heartlands Hospital, Solihull Hospital and Community Services, Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham Chest Clinic, wrote to Ruth Paulin, hospital director at Spire Parkway in Solihull, to inform her that Paterson was under investigation.

January 2008

Paulin tells Paterson to stop performing ‘cleavage sparing mastectomies and shaves with mastectomy.’ She tells him in writing on January 14 and informs the chairman of the Parkway Medical Advisory Committee (MAC).

The MAC chairman at Parkway wrote to Paterson to tell him to stop performing colonoscopies but he ignored this and continued carrying out the procedure.

September 2008

Two GPs working in the same practice as Paterson complain about him. Parkway’s hospital director asks the MAC chairman to investigate. The breast surgeon said there was a misunderstanding and blamed the nurses.

June 2009

Ruth Paulin discovers that Paterson continues to perform colonoscopies at Little Aston despite having been asked to stop. Paulin instructs him to stop again and writes to Will Knights at Parkway.

December 2009

‘Patient A’ raised concerns about treatment she received from Paterson in August 2009. The patient made a formal complaint to the surgeon.

December 2010

The General Medical Council (GMC) notified Ruth Paulin and Will Knights about a complaint against Paterson from NHS patients who had an incomplete mastectomy in May 2006. GMC received three more complaints against him later down the line.

January 2011

HEFT’s acting medical director wrote to Will Knights. He informed him that a patient who was reviewed at the trust had an incomplete mastectomy at Parkway hospital in January 2009 even though Paterson was told to stop in January 2008. HEFT started an investigation against Paterson.

February 2011

Spire Parkway’s Will Knights is informed by the GMC that a patient alleged she had an incomplete mastectomy at Spire Parkway in 2009. Paterson was the surgeon.

May to June 2011

While HEFT excluded Paterson for only two weeks while they investigated his practice, he was allowed to practise as normal at Parkway and Little Aston for a week after being excluded from HEFT. He kept performing breast surgery until May 31 and general surgery until June 8. 2011.

August 12, 2011

Paterson attended his last outpatient clinic.

April 2017

Paterson was sentenced to prison.

2020

Independent inquiry finds there was a culture of "avoidance and denial" that enabled Paterson to keep working as long as he did despite whistleblowers bringing to attention his misdoings.

July 2021

Spire Healthcare set up a new compensation scheme for those patients of Ian Paterson whose treatment was reviewed in 2021.

October 2022

On October 28, 2022 a further 13 inquests were opened in relation to former patients of Paterson in Birmingham. The Senior Coroner Mrs Louise Hunt and Area Coroner Ms Emma Brown have been carrying out preliminary investigations under section 1(7) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 to identify whether there is reason to suspect that any former patients of Mr Paterson died an unnatural death as a result of the care they received.

Following preliminary investigations, the Senior and Area Coroner believe there is evidence to have reason to suspect that some of those deaths may be unnatural.

February 1, 2023

Spire Healthcare releases a statement to say that it is contacting more patients. It said: “Having contacted 5,500 patients of Ian Paterson over the past two years to check that their care has been reviewed, Spire Healthcare is contacting a further group of Paterson patients.

“In 2020, Spire committed to contacting all known patients of Paterson to check their care had been reviewed, following the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Paterson.

“After having contacted all 5,500 identifiable patients of Paterson in late 2020, Spire undertook a further step to be certain that there were no outstanding patients who might require support, dating back to the earliest years of his practice.

“To do this, it revisited historic legacy IT systems in use between 1993 and the early 2000s, containing information about patients from over 20 years ago which had been thought to be inaccessible.

“However, following a further complex analysis of these legacy systems, Spire was able to identify the details of around 1,500 patients. These patients will now be contacted by Spire Healthcare and where appropriate, offered a review of the treatment they received by Paterson over 20 years ago and support.

“Dr Cathy Cale, Spire Healthcare’s Group Medical Director, said: ‘Over the past couple of years, we’ve been absolutely committed to identifying, tracking down and contacting all living patients of Ian Paterson regardless of when they were treated. This has entailed going back over legacy computer systems which were in place from the beginning of Ian Paterson’s practice in 1993 until the early 2000s, and includes data which were thought to be previously inaccessible.

‘Understandably, it’s not been easy to navigate our way around some of these data which are more than 20 years old. But, now that we have been able to extract new patient information from these historic IT systems, we will write to those patients in the next few weeks to offer them any support they need.

‘We are very sorry for the significant distress and harm suffered by patients who were treated by Ian Paterson. We accepted the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Paterson in 2020 and are fully committed to implementing them.

‘Although we cannot put right the wrongs of the past, we are determined to do everything we can to support the victims of Ian Paterson including those he treated before Spire was in existence. That is why we are taking this action today.’”

Any patient who is concerned about treatment they received with Ian Paterson can call Spire Healthcare’s freephone helpline on 0800 085 8130 or email them at [email protected].