Review finds 94 patients were harmed by Great Ormond Street surgeon

Some 94 patients suffered harm at the hands of a Great Ormond Street orthopaedic surgeon, a report has concluded.

Great Ormond Street Hospital (Gosh) released a review on Thursday into the actions of Yaser Jabbar, who treated hundreds of children from 2017 to 2022.

Some 36 children suffered severe harm while under the care of the surgeon, who worked on lower limb reconstruction.

A further 39 patients came to moderate harm and 19 patients came to mild harm.

The study also reported that 642 patients did not come to harm that could be attributable to the surgeon.

Mr Jabbar is understood to live abroad and no longer has a licence to practise medicine in the UK.

Great Ormond Street Hospital statement

On its website, Great Ormond Street has laid out action it says it has taken in response to the report's findings:

We have undertaken significant work to make the care we give at GOSH better and safer for all patients. The Royal College of Surgeons review set out 122 recommendations for the hospital, all of which have been completed.

These recommendations were predominantly focused on improving the work of the Orthopaedic Service, however there were broader actions that we have applied across the hospital.

Within the Orthopaedic Service, actions include:

• Standardising the way we accept patients and manage waiting lists

• Ensuring every surgical patient is reviewed by a large team before and following surgery (MDT)

• Fortnightly meetings with Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital to discuss complex cases with a wider specialist team

• Strengthening the processes we have to discuss care that has not gone to plan at monthly Mortality and Morbidity Meetings

• Agreeing outcome measures for children and young people with limb differences, conditions that affect the foot and ankle and for neuromuscular conditions which require orthopaedic surgery

Wider learnings and actions that are being applied across the hospital include:

• Standardising multidisciplinary teams (MDT) and mortality and morbidity (M&M) meeting governance

• Reviewing outcome measures for our services

• Investing in our clinical leaders through speciality lead training

• Further developing our Speak Up culture including supporting patients to raise concerns

• Improving our induction processes including training a cohort of mentors

A spokesperson said:

"The changes we have made come too late for these patients and families, but we hope that they will help prevent future patients and families going through what happened to them."

You can read the full statement here.