Expert solicitors at Switalskis have been contacted by more former patients of a Sussex hospital trust which faces a police inquiry as people continue to seek support for errors in their treatment.

The University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, which operates seven hospitals including the Royal Sussex Hospital, is currently being investigated by Sussex Police as part of Operation Bramber, which is looking into potential negligence at the Trust affecting as many as 200 patients.

Concerns in colorectal care

The investigation is believed to relate to care provided by the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust between 2015 and 2021. The Trust is also one of 12 which the government announcement last year would be examined as a part of a nationwide investigation led by Baroness Amos.

Chris Gresswell-Green , Director and expert in medical negligence at Switalskis, also wrote to the General Medical Council (GMC) in October last year with regard to ongoing safety concerns over treatment provided by Consultant Colorectal Surgeon Marc Lamah at the Royal Sussex Hospital.

Chris is now supporting some of Mr Lamah’s former patients who have contacted Switalskis for help in establishing what went wrong with their care – but he has also been contacted by other patients of the Trust who have concerns over their past treatment.

Our expert’s view

One recent patient has now asked for Switalskis’ support regarding her repeated appointments at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton in 2015 and early 2016 when she was experiencing severe abdominal pain and associated symptoms. Our investigations will now seek to determine whether there was a failure to diagnose and treat an evolving small bowel obstruction in a timely manner. 

She has since experienced long-term, highly debilitating symptoms which have had a life-changing effect on her ability to work and to live a fulfilled life.

Although she studied for three years to qualify as a nurse, she was unable to complete her training and take on the career she had worked for due to her ongoing symptoms, which have also prevented her from doing other jobs for any prolonged period.

Further, Switalskis’ experts also believe that her illness, caused by poor care, subsequently led to problems with the birth of her first child, who was born prematurely at 35 weeks into her pregnancy with a very low birth weight at just 3lb and faced very significant postnatal complications. These included severe jaundice which required two rounds of phototherapy, developmental delays such as motor, speech and cognition issues and severe vision impairment.

Her son, now aged three but who cannot be named for legal reasons, has also been referred for speech therapy and psychological support and may require growth hormone therapy.

His mother’s birth was consultant-led due to her history of stomach surgeries and her ongoing condition but our experts believe that failures in her care during the pregnancy contributed to the issues which her son will have to live with for the rest of his life.

The former Royal Sussex patient, who can’t be named to protect the identity of her son, has expressed her horror at the news that other patients may also have sustained harm at the same hospital and with the same medical teams, adding her concern to the voices of many other patients who have suffered distress at the news regarding the police investigation and the case of Mr Lamah.

“She said: “My treatment has led to many years of symptoms which have had a profound effect on my life and prevented me from working. My condition is draining and will be something I will have to live with for the rest of my life, and it is very likely that it also contributed to my son’s life-changing condition which is ever harder to face.

“It’s bad enough to know that we have both been left with life-changing conditions through failures in my care but to hear that other patients have also experienced serious harm is very difficult to process. The fact that it has been serious enough to warrant a police investigation through Operation Bramber is even harder to accept.

“I’m very keen to know what went wrong with my care and why this has happened – not just for my son and I but for everyone else who has suffered harm. I wouldn’t want anyone else to experience what I have been through. Improvements must be identified and made to ensure that this sort of thing cannot happen ever again at the Royal Sussex or any of the Trust’s other hospitals.”

Chris, a highly-experienced Director in our medical negligence team, said: “This case is another example of long-standing and wholly avoidable failures in care at the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.

“The fact that there are investigations by both Sussex Police through Operation Bramber and by the government demonstrate the worrying scale of incidents that have taken place at the Trust’s hospitals. All patients deserve to know that no stone will be left unturned and that the Trust will ensure the safety of all patients, learning the lessons it needs to learn.

“Patient safety must always be the number one priority in the NHS but sadly, our experience shows that when care does not meet the required standard, patients can suffer serious, long-term and life-changing injuries.

“This patient will get our full emotional and expert legal support as we seek to establish what went wrong, why it happened and to gain her the answers she needs and the long-term physical and emotional support she will need to manage her life-changing condition.”

Switalskis is also supporting other former patients of the Trust’s hospitals and also specifically those who were treated by Mr Lamah, who was banned from practicing in private hospitals following concerns over patient safety but continued operating within the NHS at the Royal Sussex County Hospital until last year.

How Switalskis can help

Switalskis has been contacted by a growing number of patients, and continues to investigate what went wrong. We are committed to ensuring every patient feels heard, supported and informed.

If you have received treatment at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, and feel let down by your care, our surgery negligence experts are here to help. We urge anyone with worries about the care they received to seek legal support to seek the answers you deserve. This investigation hopes to prevent future patients from experiencing similar trauma, ensuring lessons are learnt and your voice is heard.

You can contact our team of medical negligence solicitors by filling out the form below, or calling on 08001380458 for a free, confidential chat about your concerns.