Detectives investigating dozens of deaths at the Royal Sussex County Hospital have expanded their investigation to include more recent cases, including those of serious harm.
In June, the Guardian reported that Sussex Police was looking into the deaths of about 40 patients treated in general surgery and neurosurgery at the Brighton hospital between 2015 and 2020.
Sussex Police today confirmed the investigation into medical negligence, named Operation Bamber, has now been extended to 2021 and will also look at cases where patients survived, but were seriously harmed.
A police spokeswoman said: “Sussex Police has received allegations of medical negligence at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, and is currently assessing these allegations.
“The concerns raised relate to neurosurgery and general surgery in a period between 2015- 2021.
“Enquiries are at an early stage and this does not necessarily mean this will lead to criminal prosecution.
“We are working closely with partner agencies and the hospital trust is co-operating fully with our review.”
The Guardian reports that Mr Sharma, 63, was left severely disabled when he had a stroke during an operation to remove a tumour, and doctors did not notice.
The tumour had also been misdiagnosed as grade 4, requiring immediate operation, but turned out to be a less serious grade 2 cancer.
They quote his wife Audrey saying: “He went in with a bleed on the brain and came out completely disabled.”
The paper also quotes someone they describe as an insider saying some of the surgeons at the hospital remain a danger to the public.
In particular, the source said there had been an avoidable death following a procedure there in July, a woman who lost the power of speech in April after surgery and a man left with a brain abscess in May.
The source said: “You would not want your family members touched by these people.”
A hospital spokesperson said: “We are unable to publicly discuss matters relating to an ongoing police enquiry, but we are co-operating fully and will continue to do whatever we can to support the process.”
Clearly a worrying situation for all involved in any way.Good to note that the hospital authorities are cooperating with the ongoing investigation which must be allowed to move unhindered to a conclusion. For myself, staffs at the hospital have saved my life and I know they do sterling work often under difficult circumstances- I hope the clear truth regarding these matters will be arrived at in due course
My mother was left paralysed and suffered two strokes from surgery in 2021, who do I contact in regards to this investigation? We got told this had never happened to anyone else!
Images were lost things didn’t add up! We asked to be put under St Thomass for this reason!
That’s awful. The trust is infamous for silencing any critics, so it’s unsurprising you were told it was a terrible anomaly. The Sussex police are extending the investigation and they’re contacting some patients they think may be involved. However, they won’t be able to find everyone – especially since the Trust is clearly doing its best to avoid any more potential cases being discovered. The whistleblowers have given literal dossiers to the police and have named certain individuals and consultants as dangerous. We don’t know exactly who is on that list, but it would be worth you contacting the Sussex police and telling them your experience. That way, if the doctors/staff in your case ARE people the police are looking into, they can add you to the investigation. The more people come forward, the better the chance of holding the Trust to account – they can pretend one or two are isolated incidents, but an overwhelming number of cases being scrutinised will be much harder for them to explain away. The code name is Operation Bramber, so if I were you, I’d call (or pop into) Sussex police and say you may have some information they could find helpful.
My brother had brain surgery in September 2021 at this hospital. He died just two months later following complications due to terrible negligence and we now know that this was not an isolated case. All we can now hope for is that those involved will be held accountable. Nothing will bring back our lost loved ones but we can’t rest until the truth is told.