FAMILIES: LET OUR VOICES BE HEARD

Grieving families, harmed patients and politicians call for public inquiry

THE four MPs who represent the area covered by the Morecambe Bay hospital trust have joined forces to call for a public inquiry into its urology department.

Barrow and Furness MP John Woodcock, Copeland’s Trudy Harrison, Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron and Barrow-born Lancaster MP Cat Smith have jointly penned a letter to health secretary Matt Hancock.

The move follows a 12-month investigation by The Mail in conjunction with former FGH consultant urologist Peter Duffy who last month published his whistle-blowing book detailing some of the errors made by his colleagues over a 19-year period.

The University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust, which runs FGH, the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Westmorland General Hospital, ‘welcomed independent scrutiny’ but insists the service is safe.

In their letter the MPs call for an inquiry to follow the model of the 2015 Kirkup Report into UHMBT’s midwifery failings.

They said: “The evidence provided strongly suggests the trust is leaving patients at risk.”

The letter claims the trust has been ‘obstructive and uncooperative’ and points to new claims being made by current and past patients.

Errors within the urology department involve three consultants; Ashutosh Jain, Kavinder Madhra and Muhammad Naseem. Mr Madhra resigned in October 2018 while Mr Jain and Mr Naseem remain employed at UHMBT.

Mr Duffy, who now works on the Isle of Man, said: “Since safety concerns were recently put into the public domain by both Amy Fenton and myself, more patients and staff have come forward with stories of malpractice and poor behaviour.

“Only through a full and formal inquiry will we be able to cut through the obfuscations, smoke-screens, delays and redactions that have defined the trust’s stance.”

The family of Peter Read who died in 2015 after mistakes by two of the consultants; Mr Jain and Mr Naseem, have backed the MPs’ demand for an inquiry.

Mr Read’s daughters Karen and Nicola said: “We wholeheartedly support a public inquiry and sincerely thank the MPs.

“We have waited for an intolerable amount of time for honest answers.

“We have been made to feel awkward, difficult and a nuisance by asking questions. Their answers have been evasive, cold and dismissive and tried to imply the family’s distress is due to coverage in the press.

“It most certainly is not and without Amy Fenton and Peter Duffy we would not be having our voices heard.”

Pennington dad James Titcombe was one of the leading campaigners who successfully fought for an independent inquiry into the trust’s maternity failings in 2015.

Mr Titcombe, whose newborn son Joshua in 2008 at Furness General Hospital, has backed the call for an inquiry into the urology department.

“When I finished reading Peter Duffy’s book I thought the events described were so shocking they needed further inquiry,” he said.

UHMBT chief executive Aaron Cummins said: “We welcome any independent scrutiny of our urology service and the concerns raised by former consultant Peter Duffy.

“Since concerns were raised, we have carried out a number of different investigations into the service, and into the practices of different clinicians. These included an invited visit by the Royal College of Surgeons in 2015, which resulted in a number of recommendations.

“Whilst we believe we operate a safe service for our patients, because of the concerns which have been raised, we had already announced our intention to seek an independent peer review, both to ensure that the recommendations of the Royal College of Surgeons review had been implemented and to make sure there were no further issues within the department.

“We have continued to keep the Care Quality Commission, NHS England and NHS Improvement and our own Clinical Commissioning Group informed of our ongoing actions and they have continued to be supportive of our efforts.

“Our intention throughout is to ensure the safety of our patients and we will continue to welcome any efforts to reassure them that our urology service is safe.

“While not dismissing any concerns, I want to acknowledge that our trust has a dedicated team within our urology service who are working hard providing the service for our patients.”