Calls grow for official inquiry into surgeon ‘who hoarded thousands of patient body parts’

Calls are growing for an official inquiry into the findings of a leaked report revealed by The Independent which claimed that Derek McMinn, a world-renowned hip surgeon, hoarded body parts from thousands of patients over a 25-year period.

McMinn, who has performed surgeries on a number of celebrities, politicians and top athletes, kept the bones of at least 5,224 patients he operated on – despite having no licence to store body parts or proper consent from patients, according to the report.

Nurses, theatre staff and doctors at the Edgbaston Hospital, in Birmingham, where McMinn carried out the majority of his operations, were apparently aware of what he was doing.

After the revelations emerged on Tuesday, a number of politicians, health groups and regulatory bodies have since called for an immediate investigation into the McMinn case, with questions raised over how the surgeon was allegedly allowed to act unchallenged by hospital staff.

Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, told The Independent that “nobody should be allowed to ride roughshod” over the law.

“Clearly the facts of this case are still emerging, but patients will be most concerned by the reports of alleged unlawful behaviour going undisclosed and apparently abetted for a long period,” she said.

“Regulations on human tissue are there to protect patients’ health and dignity. Nobody should be allowed to ride roughshod over that, however distinguished they might be, and no organisation should collude in it.”

The British Orthopaedic Association acknowledged that the allegations were “very serious” and echoed calls for an independent enquiry into the scandal.

The Royal College of Surgeons of England said it advised all its surgeons “to follow the Human Tissue Act 2004 regulations, and obtain appropriate licences where necessary.”

A spokesperson added: “Today’s media reports are therefore concerning, and we will follow closely the police and GMC investigations as they proceed.”

Munira Wilson, MP for Twickenham and the health and social care spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, described The Independent’s report as “extremely alarming”.

“We need to know what on earth was going on,” she said. “It is vital that an independent investigation takes place as soon as possible to ensure something like this never happens again."

Jack Dromey, the Birmingham MP for Erdington, told The Independent: “There can be no excuse for what he did. The people of Birmingham will be shocked that he may have accumulated body parts from their loved ones without them knowing. A full investigation is now essential.”

The revelations also throw the spotlight on safety and transparency measures within the private health sector, which found itself under scrutiny earlier this year following the Ian Paterson inquiry.

The jailed breast surgeon was found to have subjected more than 1,000 patients to unnecessary and damaging operations over 14 years before he was stopped.

Dr Paterson was free to perform harmful surgery on mainly female patients in NHS and private hospitals because of “a culture of avoidance and denial,” said the report, which called on ministers, NHS bosses and the private healthcare industry to introduce new measures to reduce the risk that another health professional could harm patients.

Preet Kaur Gill, MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, said the leaked report was “deeply concerning” and “underlines the need for the government to implement existing recommendations to improve patient safety without delay”.

“There must be a full investigation so that lessons can be learned and changes made,” she told The Independent.

If the allegations proved to be true, it would constitute a “truly horrific breach of patients’ trust”, she added.

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, now chair of the Commons Health Select Committee, called on Downing Street to “get on” with implementing the Paterson inquiry recommendations as “a matter of urgency”.

“This case looks concerning, and we need answers quickly,” he told The Independent. “We have heard this theme of staff not speaking up again and again, so we can not allow these recommendations to be kicked into the long grass.”

The Private Healthcare Information Network (PHIN), established in 2014 to bring greater transparency to the private health sector, said that it was “essential” the industry continues to “work closely with NHS colleagues to produce a single system of information that gives a comprehensive picture of the activity, performance and interests of consultants”.

Matt James, CEO of PHIN, told The Independent that these latest allegations must be “dealt with by effective governance”. He added: "It is vital for maintaining public confidence and patient safety that even the most established and prolific consultants realise that they must follow all of the rules all of the time, and can’t pick or choose.”

The full scale of McMinn’s alleged actions was kept from some regulators until The Independent began making inquiries in the past week, despite completion of the internal review in October last year.

BMI Healthcare has also not informed any of the surgeon’s patients, who were mainly private and paid £13,000 for the operation, but also included some referred by the NHS.

The Independent has approached NHS England to determine whether the body, or other NHS organisations, had been alerted to the BMI’s internal investigation into Dr McMinn.

West Mercia Police have confirmed that officers are investigating an alleged breach of the Human Tissue Act relating to “a private premises in Worcestershire” following a referral by the Human Tissue Authority.

When approached by The Independent, McMinn declined to comment.

A spokesperson for Circle Health Group, which took over BMI Healthcare in June this year, said the body “would like to apologise for this surgeon’s completely unacceptable and distressing actions in previous years”.

The group added: “We will leave no stone unturned in investigating these historic issues; they have all been reported to the appropriate authorities and we will cooperate closely with regulators to resolve them.”