Heart surgery at Yorkshire hospital under police investigation

It is understood that 11 operations at Castle Hill Hospital near Hull are being looked at, following concerns being raised about patients suffering avoidable harm.

Ten deaths occurred between October 2019 and March 2022, with another in May 2023.

The investigation centres on the care being delivered during the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implant (TAVI) procedure to replace a damaged valve in the heart. Castle Hill’s TAVI mortality rate at the time was three times higher than the UK average.

Allegations have also been made that some patients’ death certificates failed to disclose that the surgery contributed to their death.

Humberside Police have confirmed an investigation has been launched, but it is in the “very early stages”.

The BBC reports that staff concerns within the hospital led to three reviews being commissioned from 2020 onwards, but none were made public. Patients’ families were unaware of the existence of these reviews.

In 2021, it is also reported that seven cardiac consultants wrote to the hospital’s chief executive, saying they were “very concerned” about the TAVI service.

Families have spoken of their devastation at only now finding out new information about their loved ones’ deaths, and of a lack of transparency in exactly what happened.

Jodie Cook, senior associate at Slater and Gordon in Yorkshire, says: "The experiences of the families at Castle Hill Hospital involved in this investigation are absolutely shocking, and they rightly have concerns that full details have not been disclosed to them about what happened to their loved ones. The fact they are finding out devastating details years later compounds their existing grief and trauma. 

"We welcome the launch of this investigation and hope it establishes the truth around what has happened at this hospital, and gives the answers that families need and deserve."