Doctor 'botched hip replacements'

My new hip left me in severe pain

A doctor at a South African health care firm flown in to do hip replacements for the NHS has been blamed for botching operations for six patients.

The surgeon working for Netcare carried out the operations at the Royal Hospital Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire, between 10 and 20 November 2003.

One doctor described the surgeon's work as "totally substandard and probably negligent", the report said.

Two of his patients have since had to have corrective surgery.

But, following a report into the situation on Tuesday, health bosses still backed the use of private firms.

The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Health Authority did, however, offer any of the six patients further treatment if deemed necessary.

Six patients suffered problems following their operations

John Rutter, from Petersfield, Hampshire, and Celia Collett from Plymouth, Devon, are considering suing the NHS over the incident.

Netcare was brought into carry out 1,000 operations at the hospital between October 2003 and March 2004 to make up for orthopaedic staff called up to serve in the Iraq war.

Operations were carried out for Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Plymouth Hospital NHS Trust and Frimley Park Hospital Trust in Surrey.

The independent report itself highlighted that the clinical performance of the surgeon - named only as Dr Y - was "a source of concern" and evidence of his previous experience in such operations was "not strong".

It added: "At least five of the six hip replacements he carried out raised concerns about his surgical technique and will probably fail in five years."

We took immediate action to exclude the surgeon from operating both in the UK and South Africa Netcare

The health authority said that the contract with Netcare "worked well" for the majority of patients but there were shortfalls "in processes around recruitment, contract management, theatre scheduling and clinical governance".

Dr Simon Tanner, medical director for the authority, said: "We do not believe there should be any loss of confidence in arrangements made with the independent sector to provide non-urgent operations.

"While there may have been problems with some hip replacement operations performed in this instance, these appear to be limited to one particular individual and the majority of the work done as part of this contract was of the quality required."

A spokesman for Netcare Healthcare UK Limited said the subject of the inquiry was "an isolated incident".

He added: "We took immediate action to exclude the surgeon from operating both in the UK and South Africa.

"We also alerted the General Medical Council and its equivalent in South Africa and have at all times acted in the highest interests of all patients."

Graeme Zaki, Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust's medical director, said: "The trust has accepted the findings of the report and we have already carried out the recommendations to safeguard patients."