\n Leslie Irwin, 63, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon who worked at Sunderland Royal Hospital and Spire Washington Hospital, has\u00a0been added to a list of surgeons whose patients are being recalled regarding procedures he performed.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Irwin, who worked for the South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Trust between 2001 and 2023, retired in 2022, but a selection of his patients\u00a0have\u00a0been contacted directly by Spire over potential issues with his work.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Leslie Irwin (Image: SUBMITTED)\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Irwin\u00a0relinquished his\u00a0role with the General Medical Council (GMC)\u00a0in May 2025.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Spire Healthcare suspended Mr Irwin in August 2023 and withdrew his practising privileges in September 2024.\n<\/p>\n
\n The private practice is currently recalling patients who were operated on by Mr Irwin during his time at Spire Washington Hospital, at least some of whom were NHS patients, following \u201cconcerns\u201d being raised around his work.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Care Quality Commission\u00a0(CQC)\u00a0confirmed that it inspected Spire Washington Hospital in October last year after concerns were raised with it.\n<\/p>\n
\n A report of their findings will be published\u00a0in due course.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Bosses at Spire hospital, where the\u00a0consultant\u00a0orthopaedic\u00a0surgeon had worked,\u00a0began contacting patients in summer 2025 over concerns about treatment and care, before the CQC inspection was carried out.\n<\/p>\n
\n Spire Hospital in Washington (Image: Stuart Boulton)\n<\/p>\n
\n Independent medical evidence for one client, done through Slater and Gordon solicitors, who underwent 30 operations by Mr Irwin in 20 years on her wrist highlighted several \u201cpoorly performed and unnecessary\u201d surgeries.\n<\/p>\n
\n While it is unknown how many patients are being recalled by Spire, lawyers Slater and Gordon have reported \u201csignificant\u201d numbers of people getting in touch.\n<\/p>\n
\n In response, the law firm has organised a free legal clinic at Sunderland\u2019s Beacon of Light on Thursday, February 19, where anyone with concerns can come along to receive free legal advice and support from specialist lawyers.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cUnderstandably, it is deeply concerning that a surgeon who has practiced for so many years in two North East hospitals is under investigation for the standard of care he provided,\u201d said John Lowther, a clinical negligence lawyer at Slater and Gordon in the North East, who is acting for a growing number of patients of Mr Irwin.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt is fair to say we have received a significant number of enquiries already, and that is increasing by the day.\n<\/p>\n
\n “While we cannot speculate on the scale of this investigation, the fact that we have had so many people coming forward already really does give cause for concern.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe will support these people in every way we can in finding out how and why things have gone wrong in their care, and do all we can to ensure they find the answers and accountability they need and deserve.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n It is understood there are many more patients who are being contacted by Spire, with the healthcare provider also asking any of Mr Irwin\u2019s patients with concerns, and who have not yet been approached, to\u00a0make contact with\u00a0them.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Spire Washington\u00a0says they have been in touch with patients and are reviewing specific procedures undertaken by Mr Irwin.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Sunderland Royal Hospital (Image: Stuart Boulton)\n<\/p>\n
\n A Spire spokesperson: “We are currently reviewing specific procedures that were provided to a select cohort of patients of Mr Leslie Irwin, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon who previously practised at Spire Washington Hospital.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n “We are in direct contact with all relevant patients to review their care and offer support.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n “The review is being run in accordance with NHS England\u2019s National Quality Board: Recall Framework, which Spire Healthcare helped to develop.”\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Irwin also worked for the South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, which confirmed to The Northern Echo that the surgeon retired from the Trust in May 2022, but, unlike Spire, said it\u00a0isn’t\u00a0recalling any patients at this time.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n In a 2016 consultant directory list at the NHS Trust, Mr Irwin was listed as specialising in hand, upper limb, rheumatoid disease, wrist disorders, and arthroscopic.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Irwin is no longer registered with the General Medical\u00a0Council\u00a0and the Care Quality Commission (CQC)\u00a0will soon publish its\u00a0findings\u00a0after\u00a0inspecting Spire Washington Hospital in October last year.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n A CQC spokesperson said: \u201cThe Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected Spire Washington Hospital on October 14, after receiving concerns about the quality of care being provided.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n “The findings will be published in a report on the CQC\u2019s website once they\u2019ve been through the usual quality assurance processes.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cCQC\u2019s priority, at all times, is the health and wellbeing of people using health and social care services, and all information we receive informs our monitoring of services and future inspections.”\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n Slater and Gordon\u2019s free legal clinic will take place on Thursday, February 19, from 10am to 2pm, at the Beacon of Light, Stadium Park, Sunderland, SR5 1SN.\n<\/p>\n
\n To pre-book an appointment, contact dominic.smith@slatergordon.uk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leslie Irwin, 63, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon who worked at Sunderland Royal Hospital and Spire Washington Hospital, has\u00a0been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-399117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}