Yaser Jabbar: Lawyer calls for lessons to be learned from Ian Paterson Inquiry report

I work as a group actions solicitor specialising in clinical negligence claims and my post was in response to the article in The Sunday Times about paediatric orthopaedic surgeon Dr Yaser Jabbar that raises several important points about the relationship between private and NHS healthcare providers when concerns are raised about a doctor, but also what a hospital should do if a doctor they employ is receiving complaints from colleagues and patients.

Background of Jabbar case

Shaun Lintern wrote that reports were made to senior leadership about Dr Yaser Jabbar’s clinical practice at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in 2020 following an investigation by a fellow surgeon, yet nothing was done to stop him working there until 2022 when a second GOSH surgeon raised concerns after having seen Mr Jabbar’s patients in outpatient clinic appointments whilst he was away from the hospital on leave. 

Mr Jabbar lost his practising privileges at the private Portland Hospital in 2022 for failing to attend pre-arranged clinic appointments. Yet The Portland did not inform GOSH about him losing his practicing privileges as it was for an administrative reason. 

It has now been confirmed that The Portland has also commenced its own investigation into Mr Jabbar’s clinical practice. 

GOSH has already confirmed that it is reviewing the care provided to 721 patients who saw Mr Jabbar at the NHS hospital. GOSH plans to publish a summary of the Royal College report by the end of the year.

Why was the Paterson Inquiry set up?

The Paterson Inquiry was set up to focus upon issues identified in Ian Paterson’s clinical practice, but also to consider the past and current practices in the NHS and private hospital regime. The inquiry aimed to make recommendations to improve the safety and quality of care provided to all patients. 

The Paterson Inquiry report was published in February 2020. The follow up work including the publication of the NHS recall framework hasn't been looked at in the public domain in any great detail. 

Statutory Inquiries Committee recommendations

I read The Statutory Inquiries Committee report Public inquiries: Enhancing public trust. The committee recommends setting up a new parliamentary committee to monitor the government response to public inquiry recommendations and to ensure that those which are accepted are implemented. This should, in my view, include the Paterson Inquiry report recommendations such as the following:

• There should be a single repository of the whole practice of consultants across England, setting out their practicing privileges and other critical consultant performance data.
• That the Government addresses, as a matter of urgency, this gap in responsibility between the private sector and NHS.

Conclusion: Lessons aren't learned if ignored or delayed

Lord Norton of Louth from the committee said that “'lessons learned' is an entirely vacuous phrase if lessons aren’t being learned because inquiry recommendations are ignored or delayed.” I couldn't agree more.  

Find out more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in supporting the patients of surgeons whose cases are being reviewed at our dedicated group medical negligence claims section.