Patient speaks of shock and anger over admissions from healthcare provider

A man who lives with movement problems and in constant pain after numerous operations on his wrists, elbows and fingers has told of his devastation at discovering the surgeon he “worshipped” was under investigation.

David Render underwent numerous procedures by Leslie Irwin, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon who practiced at Spire Washington Hospital and Sunderland Royal Hospital, between 2018 and 2022.

Often, there were various surgeries performed during one operation, with David saying he sometimes “wasn’t sure exactly what had been done”. On two occasions, screws were left sticking out of David’s fingers after surgery, requiring emergency removal.

Having first sought medical attention following damage to his wrists after a fall in 2017, initially with a different surgeon, he was referred to Mr Irwin the following year, who carried out operations at Spire Washington Hospital on David’s wrists, fingers and elbows, and he also underwent extensive tendon and ligament surgery.

Since that time, David, who was previously a keen photographer, has struggled to get back to his hobby, and struggles with day to day tasks due to the problems he still has with his wrists and arms and the pain he has to live with. He also says the pain and stress caused by his ongoing medical procedures impacted the breakdown of his marriage.

Whilst believing Mr Irwin – who has since been banned from practicing by Spire – had been his “saviour”, David was contacted unexpectedly last year by Spire Washington Hospital, which raised concerns over some of the operations he had experienced.

In the concerns raised by Spire following an investigation into Mr Irwin’s work, they conceded there was “no clinical indication” for at least one of David’s operations; raised red flags over the standard of surgery, with a thermal wand being used – something that is not an accepted technique, and had caused damage to his wrist; and the placement of screws in his fingers were “poor” and did not even attach to the bone.

“I honestly thought Mr Irwin was amazing, I worshipped him, I thought things would be so much worse if not for all of the operations he was doing for me. He would do several procedures in one go, which I thought was good because it saved the NHS time and money in doing multiple operations, and I trusted him to put right what was wrong,” says David, from Washington.

“But knowing what I know now, it seems that was not the case. And that has been such a shock, especially because nothing has actually been put right, despite the many operations.

“When Spire got in contact with me, I thought it was just a routine letter. Discovering what had happened has made me very angry, because I thought he was such a brilliant surgeon and lovely man. To find out there are so many others too is awful.”

While David always believed he was in the best possible hands, and even following the incident with the screws sticking out of his fingers said he would “never dream of complaining about Mr Irwin”, he has since become determined to find out more about the standard of care he received.

“Had Spire not got in touch, I would never have known this. I wouldn’t have suspected and thought this was the best I could have hoped for after my initial accident. But I’m grateful they did, and for the openness and transparency they have shown,” says David.

“But there are so many questions that need to be answered, both for me and other patients. We need to know what has happened and why things have gone so terribly wrong for so many people.”

David is being supported by law firm Slater and Gordon, which has been investigating cases against Mr Irwin for many months. Growing numbers of his patients continue to come forward.

“David put his full trust in his surgeon, as anyone would, and believed he was receiving the highest standards of care which everyone is entitled to. To discover this has fallen well short has been devastating for him – particularly from a doctor he held in such high regard,” says Ayesha Hussain, clinical negligence solicitor who is acting for David.

“Rightly, David is asking questions about what happened to him and why, and we will support him in finding the answers. This is an extremely concerning situation and we have had a significant number of people coming forward already. To anyone else who has concerns over the care they have received, we would urge them to come forward - we are committed to supporting as many people as possible in finding out what went so wrong in their care.”