Salford Royal: Sister's call for new inquest over spine surgeon concerns

The sister of a teenager who died during spinal surgery is calling for a new inquest and a full recall of all patients seen by her surgeon.

Catherine O'Connor died in 2007 aged 17 after she was treated by John Bradley Williamson at Salford Royal Hospital.

An independent report found the consultant's failings contributed to her death. It also found the trust did not properly investigate concerns.

Mr Williamson said he had always made patient care his first priority.

Catherine was born with spina bifida, which twisted her spine, and the operation was supposed to straighten it.

"She was a very girly girl," remembered her sister, Angela.

"She wanted to go shopping, wear the clothes she wanted to wear, not have them adjusted. [She wanted to] look the best she could.

"She was told that it was a big operation but that it would be lifechanging and it would improve her life hugely," Angela said.

But the operation Catherine thought would transform her life for the better tragically ended it, she died on the operating table after suffering massive blood loss.

Angela remembered the moment she realised, she said: "I heard an awful noise from my mum and I went in and heard the news… Catherine had died in theatre.

"Your life changes literally overnight. I still feel angry, still sad."

The anaesthetist that day was Glyn Smurthwaite who had been brought in at short notice to replace a colleague who was sick.

In 2015, eight years after Catherine's death, Mr Smurthwaite found out Mr Williamson had been advised to have another spinal consultant with him, as the operation was so complex, it needed two people.

Mr Smurthwaite said the experience had left him traumatised, he said: "Since then I've been hugely affected by the fact that if I'd known [then] what I found out in 2015, the surgery wouldn't have gone ahead because I would have stopped it."

He and other staff members raised their concerns to the hospital trust.

By this stage Mr Williamson had been dismissed for an unrelated reason, but the group wanted the trust to investigate Catherine's death, along with problems other patients had suffered.

But it was 2022 before a report revealing what happened to Catherine was published.

An earlier review, in 2017, had looked at just 10 patients and her case had not been chosen as a "patient of concern".

"It's been a hugely difficult, challenging journey to get the trust to actually listen, to be receptive… the analogy would be like trying to turn the Titanic," said Mr Smurthwaite.

That 2022 report concluded Mr Williamson's failure to arrange for another spinal consultant to be in the theatre "directly contributed" to Catherine's death.

It also found he misled the coroner at Catherine's inquest about the severity of the quantity of blood she lost in surgery.

The findings were supported in a report published last week by barrister Carlo Breen, into how the hospital trust, now the Northern Care Alliance, had handled the investigation into Mr Williamson.

It also found there was a "failure of trust governance process and by the trust of its duty of care to Patient A's [Catherine's] family".

A group of former patients and families, led by Angela, are now calling for an independent inquiry into how the trust was governed and a full recall of all patients seen by Mr Williamson, who also worked at Manchester Children's Hospital and the Spire Hospital.

Sharon Smith, from Leigh, said she had to give up work after two screws were misplaced in her back during an operation to fuse her spine.

"It affects every part of your life. I've got two children, I couldn't do what I wanted with them," she said.

"I'm in constant pain, I have to walk with a stick. If I go any distance, I have to use a wheelchair.

"There's a lot of patients that won't know that they've got a problem. I think they all need to be reviewed," she said.

Sharon was one of 20 patients judged to have been moderately or severely harmed after Mr Williamson's surgery, by a review published last year.

She has now joined the JBW Patients Group started by Angela earlier this year to support those affected.

Angela is now campaigning for a new inquest for Catherine, she said: "The truth wasn't told. So we want the truth and we want, I suppose, somebody to be held to account.

"That's very, very important to us as a family.

"Catherine was a feisty character so she would have wanted us to help other people and change things in the future."

The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, apologised to patients, families and staff and said they would continue to put into practice what they had learned.

They have urged any other patients with concerns to get in touch.

Mr Williamson said: "It is important to recognise that standards in many aspects of practice have changed considerably since 2006.

"I have always made patient care my first priority. I will consider and reflect on the findings of the report. There are findings and conclusions with which I do not agree."

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