Spinal operations suspended due to concerns at Warrington Hospital
Two deaths are being investigated.
Spinal surgery at Warrington and Halton Hospitals has been suspended after four serious incidents occured - including the deaths of two patients.
An external review is now underway into procedures which took place over a six month period between March and August this year.
Professor Simon Constable, medical director and deputy chief executive said:
“We have made the decision to temporarily suspend our spinal surgery at Warrington and Halton Hospitals following the identification of four serious incidents; involving spinal surgery patients over a six month period. Sadly, two of these incidents were patient deaths, early indications suggest these were related to medical complications and not the surgery itself, but these cases are now subject to the external review. Although these incidents appear very different from each other, as a precautionary measure, the Trust, working with our commissioners and regulators, has temporarily stopped doing spinal procedures, until a full external review has been undertaken.
The Trust and Commissioners have invited The Royal College of Surgeons to undertake a comprehensive review of our current spinal services at the beginning of November; this will help inform any appropriate actions or decisions regarding the future service provision.
We understand that this may cause concern for patients on our waiting list or being referred in to our services and we sincerely apologise for this. Patient safety and welfare is our priority and we are in the process of contacting all patients awaiting spinal surgery at Warrington and Halton Hospitals to advise them of the options available to them. We will do our best to support patients at this time.”
Last year there were 1674 spinal procedures across both Warrington and Halton Hospitals.
The latest suspension has seen 160 operations and 80 spinal injections cancelled