PATIENTS treated by a rogue spinal surgeon are set to have their care reviewed after an inquiry found hundreds may have been harmed.
John Bradley Williamson harmed dozens of patients and has been blamed for the death of one teenager who suffered heavy blood loss on the operating table.
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In February 2007 Catherine O’Connor had surgery to help straighten her spine and died on the table
Williamson was sacked for misconduct and inappropriate behaviour towards a female member of staff in 2015
Twenty- three of his patients had misplaced screws inserted in their spines – causing chronic pain.
More than 60 families are bringing legal claims against the NHS after Williamson was exposed in a Jattvibeday Times investigation.
An inquiry has criticised previous investigations into Williamson as inadequate.
It said that the investigation into his care was inadequate and failed to address concerns about his behaviour and reports of a cover-up by managers at the Salford Royal Hospital.
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The NHS has now been ordered to offer all of Williamson’s patients in-person reviews of their treatment.
Dr Yvette Oade, the NHS medical director behind a new report into Williamson, insisted the health service proactively contact GPs and other organisations to make patients aware.of the report
The report stated: “There is no doubt that some patients operated on by [Williamson] have been harmed.
“The people we spoke with reported experiencing a range of serious complications immediately after their surgery, many of which were either minimised or not recorded in their notes.”
She added: “We heard from people who had walked into the operating theatre and never walked again, who have been left in permanent pain, who have been left unable to work again or to live the life they had hoped for.”
The report also revealed that Williamson had allegedly behaved in an inappropriate and sexualised way with some colleagues and patients.
Williamson was sacked for misconduct and inappropriate behaviour towards a female member of staff in 2015.
A patient in one case was reportedly warned by nurses about Williamson, with the medical staff saying: “Watch him; he’s a ladies’ man.”
Another patient said Williamson made her undress completely at every appointment and would examine her with his hands.
In another case raised at the inquiry, a patient told how Williamson brought her into a toilet cubicle and marked her back with a pen.
She said: “Nursing staff witnessed me and [Williamson] exiting the toilet cubicle in disbelief and later asked if I wanted to make a formal complaint.
“I didn’t make a complaint, as I was still under [his] care and didn’t want it to interfere with my treatment.”
Williamson allegedly bullied other surgeons and staff with patients hearing him shout at his colleagues.
Dr Yvette Oade’s report stated that other staff members were scared of Williamson.
Williamson became the head of his department at Salford Royal, in Greater Manchester, where he worked between 1991 and 2015.
He also operated on children at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital until 2011.
A 2023 review of 130 patients treated by him between 2009 and 2014 found 23 had screws misplaced in their spines.
Five lost excessive blood during surgery and more than 40 had problems with consent and in 35 cases there was poor surgical practice.
Thirteen children at the children’s hospital were harmed.
In February 2007 Catherine O’Connor, 17 at the time, had surgery to help straighten her spine.
Williamson went ahead with the high- risk operation despite having never done it before.
He ignored instructions for a second consultant surgeon to assist him and failed to plan for blood loss.
Catherine died on the operating table after losing 14 litres of blood during the operation.
A report carried out without her family’s knowledge later found that Williamson’s “unacceptable and unjustifiable” actions directly contributed to her death.
Williamson initially told a coroner that the fatal surgery had progressed uneventfully.
Days after Catherine’s death however he sent an internal letter to the hospital’s haematology department.
His letter described the surgery as difficult and said it had involved “a catastrophic haemorrhage.”
Permission has now been granted for a new inquest into Catherine’s death, which could be held this year and is expected to call Williamson as a witness.
After Williamson was sacked, he continued to work privately but no longer has a licence to practise in the UK.
Ursula O’Connor, Catherine’s mother, said: “We as a family need the truth for Catherine, our daughter, our sister.
“We want to be assured this doesn’t ever happen again.”
