Brain op patients at Birmingham NHS trust suffered unnecessarily - report
Patients who underwent brain operations at a West Midlands NHS trust suffered unnecessarily because of poor surgical outcomes, a report has found.
More than 150 deep brain stimulation surgery cases at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) trust are now being investigated and surgery is suspended.
re were unacceptable delays responding to patient concerns, the independent review also said.
UHB said it was "deeply sorry" and improvements were being made.
gation recommended indefinitely suspending the service at the NHS trust until it is safer.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) for movement disorders is used on patients with conditions including Parkinson's disease and dystonia, where medication is becoming less effective.
urgery involves implanting electrodes into areas of the brain and sending electrical pulses to alter activity.
Electrodes have to be put in the correct place or within 1-2mm, otherwise they can damage a person's speech and balance.
review, carried out by medics from King's College Hospital, was ordered by UHB after a serious incident investigation of a patient who underwent DBS for Parkinson's disease.
It examined 22 cases involving 21 patients between 2017 and 2019 and found in only three the electrodes were placed in a good position. Five were usable and 13 were ineffective.
One of those 21 people, Keith Bastable, 74, from Brierley Hill, had DBS in May 2019 for his Parkinson's disease and the review found his probes were placed too far away to be acceptable.
Due to the misplacement, one was never switched on and the other probe had to be switched off as he suffered slurred speech and other side effects.
were removed and new ones recently reinserted in Oxford after he was referred to a hospital trust there. 
Mr Bastable said he had felt abandoned in the time it had taken to get resolved.
"You've got something wrong, it's a major operation and you just have the feeling of being abandoned and it's terrible," he said.
xternal review stated a specialist nurse "had caused waves within the DBS team" in her desperation to help patients.  
It found although it was unwise to refer patients out of the unit without discussing it with the consultant, the lack of support for the nurse was unacceptable. 
Mr Bastable said he was deeply indebted to this nurse for the help she had given him. 
BBC understands a second Parkinson's patient had electrodes inserted twice by UHB, in 2017 and 2019, with the first causing side effects and the second ones being unusable.
One surgeon, Anwen White, who was involved in the brain surgery for Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai in 2012, was responsible for most of the 22 operations. 
review stated Ms White had been trained by a senior neurosurgeon who made similar mistakes and it was not surprising she had difficulties. It recommended she learn from other units. The BBC has contacted Ms White for a comment.
report said: "It is fair to draw the conclusion that the problem was with the technique of an individual surgeon.
"There is evidence from multiple sources of a significant problem in her surgical technique."
Solicitor Michael Portman-Hann represents four patients and said some of his clients, who have dystonia, were badly affected by their procedures. 
"Their speech is affected, their motor skills are affected, they are wholly dependent on others and they are in a really bad way," he added. 
review concluded DBS surgery for movement disorders should only be restarted once several conditions for a safe reopening of the service had been met.
A spokesperson for UHB said they were "deeply sorry" at not providing high quality healthcare for patients and vital improvements had been made.
Following the initial review, 40 other patients were contacted and received external second opinions, while a review of about another 90 patients was continuing, UHB said.
Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk 