Dozens of patients that received outsourced cataract surgery on the NHS have been left with impaired vision, pain and discomfort.
A total of 31 out of 64 patients treated by Vanguard Healthcare Solutions on behalf of Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton in Somerset reported complications. One, an 84-year-old man, claimed he has been left blind by the routine surgery.
A report in the Somerset County Gazette said that the services provided by Vanguard were terminated after four days. The value of the contract was estimated to be £320,000, with 400 operations scheduled.
In the same article, the hospital’s medical director Dr Colin Close said the firm had been drafted in to reduce a backlog of patients. He was also quoted as saying that the hospital could face compensation claims and that financial responsibility would rest with Musgrove Park.
According to a story published later in the Guardian, Musgrove Park said that Close had been misquoted. The hospital did not respond to Optician’s request for comment.
Vanguard Healthcare Solutions chief executive Ian Gillespie told Optician: ‘Operations were carried out in Vanguard’s operating theatre by highly qualified surgeons, approved by the hospital, and with many years’ experience of working in the NHS. This investigation is still ongoing, making it inappropriate to comment on specific issues or on individual patient cases.’
Clinical negligence lawyer Laurence Vick of Michelmores solicitors in Exeter, which represents six of the patients, described the case as a fiasco and said it raised serious questions about NHS outsourcing.
He told Optician: ‘We need to ensure that the NHS vets these private providers thoroughly, going on to oversee the contracts meticulously, and to make certain that the providers are fully insured against any failings. We hope that, by exposing this fiasco publicly, the architecture of public-private relationships between the NHS and providers is re-thought with patient safety foremost in mind.’
