Lawyers representing children who developed long-term pain and injury after operations at Great Ormond Street Hospital have criticised a heavily redacted report carried out for the trust. More than 700 cases linked to the surgeon Yaser Jabbar are being reviewed including some involving leg lengthening and straightening. Some of the cases which so far have been investigated were found to have resulted in harm, lifelong injury and even amputation.
Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) commissioned a report by the Royal College of Surgeons which was handed in a year ago. But it has only been released this week to some of the families. The report - seen by the BBC - said there were serious concerns in relation to working culture, with some staff upset about the standard of care and saying the environment was "toxic" and that some surgery done on children was "inappropriate" and "incorrect".
Georgina Wade, from Tees Law, said families were hoping that GOSH would be "open, transparent, and candid". "The report is sadly heavily redacted and does not go far enough to providing the answers the families need to understand what has happened to their children." She called for the unredacted report to be published.
Dean, whose daughter Bunty was operated on multiple times by Mr Jabbar at Great Ormond Street until her lower leg was eventually amputated, says: "I’ve been begging and fighting for information from GOSH for three and a half years. "The redacted report is just another disappoin.