MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE IN UK INVESTIGATED AS POSSIBLE CAUSE OF ABOUT 40 DEATHS

Sat 10 June 2023:

UK Police launch investigation into dozens of deaths at Brighton hospital

Sussex Police are investigating approximately 40 deaths at a Brighton coastal hospital in the United Kingdom, which has fired two employees after they expressed concerns about the patients’ conditions, British media reported on Saturday.

According to the Guardian, the police are investigating roughly 40 hospital deaths on negligence charges filed by two consultant surgeons who lost their jobs after leaking patient safety information. The botched surgery were allegedly performed at the Brighton hospital.

Accidents that allegedly occurred during surgeries in general surgery and neurosurgery departments were reported from 2015 to 2020. For a long time, however, a thorough investigation was not conducted due to the obstruction of local organizations.

The two staff members fired were eminent surgeon Krishna Singh and consultant neurosurgeon Mansoor Foroughi, the newspaper said.

Both were reportedly fired after they raised concerns about the high number of deaths and cases of serious harm inflicted on patients.

Both whistleblowers claimed the trust failed to properly investigate the deaths, which took place between 2015 and 2020, and learn from mistakes made, the newspaper added.

Singh told newspaper that cost-saving changes had been driven in an unsafe manner, leading to higher complication rates and patient mortality, while Foroughi said that at least two of the deaths were the result of a surgeon suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

A Sussex Police spokesperson said: “Sussex Police has received allegations of medical negligence at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, and is currently assessing these allegations.

“The concerns raised relate to neurosurgery and general surgery in a period between 2015-2020.

“Inquiries are at an early stage and this does not necessarily mean this will lead to criminal prosecution.

“We are working closely with partner agencies and the hospital trust is co-operating fully with our review.”

Lloyd Russell-Moyle, the Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown, said he was “deeply worried” about the investigation.

“I haven’t received a briefing from the hospital, which is extremely disappointing, but they have assured me that they will brief us next week and we will get to the bottom of this.

“Those families that will have been affected will have be having sleepless nights now and we need full co-operation with the police. We need to find out if there was something criminal.

“We need to find out what’s happening with our hospital trust, it’s really struggling at the moment and we need a plan to get out of the mess.”

For months, the UK’s NHS has suffered from a severe shortage of workers. More and more people have been leaving the profession amid excessive workloads, rising prices and a lack of opportunities to upgrade their skills. T

housands of UK ambulance workers staged protests during the winter, demanding higher wages amid surging inflation in the country. Other health care workers, including nurses, physical rehabilitation specialists, paramedics and their assistants also joined the strikes.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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