Amputee triggers surgeon concerns

It also justifies the Government's move to check the skills of doctors as often as airline pilots to ensure they can perform under pressure. Citing the example of Captain Chesley Sullenberger, the hero pilot who landed a plane on the Hudson River in New York a year ago, such appraisals should also ensure that doctors and surgeons are still competent to practise and have embraced new treatment techniques.

It remains to be seen whether such checks would have been relevant in the case of Toby Branfoot, a consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon in Leeds now referred to the General Medical Council over his treatment of one individual, as hospital chiefs widen an investigation into the treatment of a number of patients in his care.

It is difficult to comprehend becoming an amputee overnight – the fate suffered by trainee accountant Simon Aitcheson, 21, when he suffered serious complications following routine surgery. A young man with his future ahead of him, he understandably wants answers and he has already waited long enough to receive them.

Yet the worry is that such inquiries quickly become so protracted that it takes many years for misconduct cases to be heard. This process

needs to be speeded up.

Furthermore, previous hearings have revealed how the treatment of patients was compromised by the inadequacy of safeguards which were supposed to ensure clinical excellence at all times. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is clearly concerned about Mr Branfoot, who has not performed surgery for more than a year, and it is important this is clarified speedily for both patients and the surgeon himself.

Public confidence in the NHS must be maintained and it is imperative for all those concerned that any problems in Leeds are fully investigated and, if necessary, remedied at the earliest opportunity.