Cardiff liver surgeon case referred to police

This is specialist surgery and there are a number of reasons why this might be the case, so rather than speculate we have asked the Royal College of Surgeons to carry out an independent, impartial review of Professor Berry’s cases and once that review is complete we will report back

The hotline has taken a number of calls, including some from other parts of the UK, and nursing staff have been providing information and reassurance to members of the public. We are also pleased that the two remaining families who we have been trying to contact for some time have been in touch and we can offer them appropriate support.

This matter has been referred to us by the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. Following a report from the Royal College of Surgeons into the specifics of this case we have liaised with the Coroner and are now in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service to examine the facts.

We are shocked and deeply concerned to learn of the scale of the number of avoidable deaths linked to Mr Berry’s surgery during his short time at University Hospital Wales.

Eight avoidable deaths within just 18 months is very concerning and the health board must provide urgent answers to all those affected about how this could have happened.

Our client Maria, and no doubt the other families who have lost loved ones, now deserve quick and transparent information from the Board about exactly what has gone wrong, how it could go wrong and what action is being taken to protect patient safety and prevent any further avoidable deaths.

I am seriously concerned about the avoidable deaths that have occurred at UHW.For eight patients to die unnecessarily at the hands of a specialist surgeon in the Welsh NHS is shocking.The death of a loved one is difficult to accept in any circumstance. What makes this situation even worse is the fact that these deaths were avoidable.I want the Health Minister to answer urgent questions from Assembly Members as soon as possible to ensure that events like this cannot happen again in our NHs."

Every death is a tragedy for the family concerned, but we do not underestimate the impact of a death in these circumstances. We would like at the outset to put on record our unreserved apologies to every family who has been affected.

The UHB has been in dialogue with the majority of those families concerned for some time and has put individual advocates in place to support them through this difficult period.

As a health board, our absolute focus is on the safety and quality of the care we give to our patients. Anomalies in this surgeon’s results were picked up by us from routine clinical data, which we scrutinise rigorously across the organisation.

We have worked with the Royal College of Surgeons, and our own staff, to make sure we are clear about the numbers of people whose care and treatment may have been affected by this issue.

We appreciate this is a worrying time for patients and their families and would like to reassure patients who are receiving or awaiting liver surgery at the moment that the UHB has full confidence in the current liver service at the University Hospital of Wales.