MORE than 350 patients requiring a change of treatment following a review into a former Southern Health Trust urologist highlights the need for healthcare reform, it has been claimed.
The Southern trust's Urology Lookback Review examined the clinical practise of retired consultant urologist Aidan O'Brien between January 2019 and June 2020.
The trust said 527 patients were identified as requiring an appointment with a urology consultant, and of these, 352 patients required a change in their care and treatment.
The remaining 175 patients did not require any change, the trust said.
The review aims to to "ensure patients received the treatment they required and to remedy care where necessary and when possible".
The trust said the review is being extended to "patients who were treated by Mr O’Brien for a urology cancer which includes prostate, bladder, kidney and testicular cancers and treated for renal stone disease, who are alive today and have not had their care reviewed as part of the first Lookback Review group, or seen by another Southern Trust urology consultant".
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A spokesperson added: "The Trust will make direct contact with those individual patients, whose care will now be reviewed as part of this Lookback Review."
The trust is also calling on private patients of Mr O'Brien who are concerned over their care and who wish to be included in the review to come forward.
Southern Trust chief executive, Dr Maria O’Kane, said: “I apologise sincerely to the affected patients and to their families that the care provided by the Trust fell below what was acceptable and that in some cases this caused distress or contributed to harm. I extend my commitment to making sure every patient is supported during this process, ensuring openness throughout.”
The Department of Health welcomed the publication of the first outcomes of the Urology Lookback Review, and a spokesperson said the department "wishes to again acknowledge the upset, distress and anxiety these matters have caused to the patients and families affected".
The department established an independent public inquiry into the Southern Trust's urology services last year, which will recommence next month.
SDLP health spokesperson and South Down MLA Colin McGrath said of this week's review findings publication: "That such a high number of patients have been impacted is something that should cause us serious concern.
"Patients need to have full faith that when they receive treatment within the NHS it is to the highest standard, with standards measured and assessed on a regular basis.
Mr McGrath added he hoped the review "will help identify the reform that is so needed within our health service to ensure that we are delivering care to patients which is of the highest standard, and that these errors are not repeated in future".
Responding to the review, Mr O'Brien said: “Changes to management plans, such as those exemplified in the report, are commonly recommended or required when patients are reviewed or when their elective admissions for procedures are considered, for several reasons including changes in their circumstances, changes in their general health or in the condition being managed.
"Such changes have been all the more commonly required when patients have waited years for review and years for elective admission due to the inadequacy of the urology service provided by the Southern Health and Social Care Trust.
“The Lookback Review has been conducted by the Trust itself, and I was not consulted or invited to provide any input. I therefore believe that the report contains questionable inferences and conclusions which should be regarded with caution.
He added: "I remain fully engaged with the ongoing independent public inquiry, which is looking more broadly at urology services which have been provided by the Trust.”
