Information for patients of Ian Paterson

Spire Healthcare remains very sorry for the distress and harm suffered by patients who were treated by Ian Paterson in our hospitals.

Although we cannot put right the wrongs of the past, we remain determined to do everything we can to support all the patients of Ian Paterson and the families of patients who have now sadly died since their treatment by Ian Paterson.

In 2020, we commenced a comprehensive review of all patients who were treated by Ian Paterson offering them guidance and support in respect of their care.

We have now completed the review of all living patients, and a review of deceased patients’ care is on-going. If you are a patient or personal representative of a deceased patient and have not heard from us about our review, please do get in touch with us via the Spire Helpline details listed below.

The inquests into the deaths of patients treated by Ian Paterson began on 7 October 2024. Our thoughts and sympathies are with the families involved and we will continue to offer and provide support to them throughout the inquests.

If you were a patient or are a family member or personal representative of a deceased patient of Ian Paterson and have any queries about the care provided by Ian Paterson at a Spire Hospital, you can call our dedicated freephone helpline on 0800 085 8130 and speak to a member of our specialist team. You can also email us at spirehealthcarehelplineianpaterson@spirehealthcare.com.

Our helpline is in operation between 8.30am to 7pm Monday to Thursday, 8.30am to 6pm on Friday and 9am to 3pm on Saturday.

If you would like confidential support and advice from an independent organisation, you can also speak to The Patients Association on 0800 345 7115 between 9.30am and 5pm Monday to Friday.

Spire Healthcare is very different today from the 1990s and 2000s when Paterson was practising. We have many robust systems and processes to ensure that safety is always at the heart of everything we do.

Read more about Spire’s commitment to safety and quality

We are fully committed to supporting all patients and this includes an on-going commitment to compensating Ian Paterson’s patients as fairly and quickly as possible.

In July 2021, Spire Healthcare set up a new compensation fund for those patients of Ian Paterson whose treatment has been reviewed.

If you were a patient of Ian Paterson, or are the personal representative of a deceased patient, and would like to apply for compensation, you can make an application to the fund by contacting either of the two legal firms who are administering the fund:

• Slater and Gordon: you can ring 0330 107 6472 or contact them through their website www.slatergordon.co.uk
• Thompsons: you can ring 0800 0 224 224 or contact them through their website www.thompsons.law

You can also use another solicitor, if you prefer, and they can make the application to the fund by contacting the above legal firms on your behalf.

Read more about the fund

The Paterson Independent Inquiry published its final report on 4 February 2020 – for information on the Inquiry and the final report, please visit: www.gov.uk/government/publications/paterson.inquiry-report

Spire Healthcare apologised to patients who were harmed by Ian Paterson, acted on the recommendations from the Independent Inquiry and further strengthened and embedded processes to improve quality and safety in all our hospitals.

Using our own experiences of carrying out reviews of patient care, we jointly led a project involving regulators, the NHS and government as part of the response to the Independent Inquiry to develop a national toolkit for patient reviews and recalls. This toolkit has been adopted and published by the National Quality Board.