Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) has launched an independent external investigation into suspended surgeon Dr. Kuldeep Stohr’s treatment of 698 patients.

The review, due by the Autumn, follows allegations that the Trust overlooked serious concerns about surgeries performed by Stohr, with evidence suggesting patient safety issues were known as early as 2015.

This comes as an investigation by The Sunday Times and Sky News has uncovered a pattern of potential medical negligence that spanned nearly a decade. Most of the patients were children.

Dr. Stohr was suspended in January by the Trust after colleagues at Addenbrooke’s Hospital raised concerns. However, new evidence suggests that the Trust knew of concerns about Stohr’s practice a decade ago.

A confidential 2016 report, acquired by the Sunday Times and Sky News earlier this week (11/05), documented “technical errors” with multiple surgeries performed by Dr. Stohr. Despite these findings, the hospital repeatedly claimed in internal communications that there were no concerns about his practice.

The report highlighted several areas of concern with Dr. Stohr’s practice, including repeated failure to order essential post-op CT or MRI scans and a tendency to operate alone or with junior staff. It described this lack of imaging as “inexplicable and not the standard of care”.

A senior hospital source commented on the alleged misconduct: “Stohr destroyed people’s lives by performing very poor surgery.” The source also claimed that staff who attempted to raise concerns were “bullied and intimidated”.

Born with a serious deformity in his foot, Oliver Muhlhausen, now seven years old, reportedly had his severe pain dismissed by Dr. Stohr, who allegedly told his mother Nicola to “go away and leave it in the hands of God,” and that Oliver did not need to be operated on.

Oliver’s mother said she filed a formal complaint in 2019, but she felt it was “brushed under the carpet”.

“I’ve been told that if she had done something sooner or even attempted to do something, he probably would have stood a bit better chance,” Nicola explained. Oliver now lives in constant foot pain, which medical experts suggest could have been preventable with timely intervention.

Ellise Kingsley, now 24, provides another testimony to the long-term impact of Dr. Stohr’s alleged medical negligence. Stohr operated on Kingsley in 2012 and 2016, and Kingsley now cannot walk for long periods and experiences daily pain and distress.

“It is upsetting to think that I could have had a completely different lifestyle in the last ten years,” she said. “I wouldn’t have had to even think about my foot now at 24. It stresses me out actually, to think that there was a chance for change, but change didn’t happen.”

Tammy Harrison, twelve, who has cerebral palsy, provides a particularly disturbing example of the alleged medical failures. Stohr performed a hip osteotomy on Harrison, which is a procedure where a bone is cut and reshaped to alter its alignment.

An independent expert, James Hunter, found significant problems with the hip surgery performed on Harrison. According to Hunter, the screws were inserted into Harrison’s hip in the wrong place, failing to properly connect to the bone. This led to gradual displacement and “considerable pain and spasm”.

Tammy’s mother, Lynn, expressed her frustration: “Obviously we are pleased to have a written admission from the Trust that Tammy’s care fell below standard, but we are four years after that operation now. When Tammy had the operation in 2021, she was left in awful pain.

“She had to remain on pain-killers much longer than we’d been advised, and she didn’t leave her bed for weeks… We’ve been given a very short summary of what happened, but that’s not enough. There’s no detail as to how this was allowed to happen, and why actions were not taken sooner,” Lynn continued.

Dr. Susan Broster, chief medical officer at CUH, has issued an unreserved apology and promised a full investigation by specialist firm Verita.

Local MP Pippa Heylings also called for complete transparency around the investigation, stating that “the hospital cannot be seen to be marking its own homework”. She urged all involved to come forward without fear of retaliation.

Legal experts are equally critical of the Trust. Elizabeth Maliakal from Hudgell Solicitors described the trust’s initial review as lacking detail and raising “more questions than it answers”.

Catherine Slattery from Irwin Mitchell asked: “What could have been done in 2016 to have prevented this from happening?” She highlighted the “very strange” practice by Stohr of not ordering bone scans.

Dr. Stohr, who specialises in paediatric surgery, previously worked at several prestigious London hospitals, including Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

CUH has established a dedicated Patient and Family Liaison Team and set up a helpline for concerned patients. The trust promises to publish the Verita investigation’s findings by autumn.

A CUH spokesperson said: “As soon as concerns were raised last year, we acted swiftly to commission an external review into the care of a number of patients. Within a matter of weeks of receiving that report in January 2025, we put in place a further rigorous, external and independent clinical review panel chaired by Andrew Kennedy KC. Separately, we asked Verita, an independent investigations company, to investigate what was known when in 2016 and whether the right actions were taken.

“We apologise again to the patients and families who deserved better. We understand the distress and anxiety they are experiencing and we want to do everything we can to support them through this period.”

“While we await the outcome of these external investigations, it would be inappropriate to comment further other than to reassure patients and families of our support,” they added.