NHS boss Sir Jim Mackey backed heart surgeon whose failures contributed to deaths

NHS President of England Doctor who contributed to several deaths with failures To continue his career as a heart surgeon.

Sir Jim Mackey, a patient who died after an operation by Karen Booth, said that the consultant surgeon should be “supported” to continue working at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.

The BBC received a meeting with the man who died last year. Inside, he tells them that Ms. Booth will continue her surgical career.

A NHS investigation found that the problems in Ms. Booth’s lawsuits could not call clinical errors, operations that are not talented or experienced and call for help when it should have to have.

Sir Jim was the head of NHS in April. Before that, he was the general manager of the Newcastle on Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who ruled Freeman, for 14 months.

Sir Jim refused to answer most of the BBC’s questions, but he said: “We took concerns from all parties very seriously, and this was a really complex situation in a very special clinical field, and it has been going on for several years.”

Karen Booth told the BBC, “Losing their loved ones and affected by the issues that emerged, the condolences continue to express my wishes,” he said. The organizer of the doctors said that he was “completely cooperating” with a review by the General Medical Council (GMC).

Seven people died after the multiple failures of Ms. Booth, an internal investigation, and a survival patient was prevented.

BBC announced that the hospital is now planning to allow Ms. Booth to continue her surgical career in the cardiac unit after being re -trained. This is despite the strong opposition of many surgical colleagues set out in E -mail.

Mrs. Booth, Heart and Transplant Surgeon– He is currently working as a mentor to other surgeons in the hospital.

In January 2024, Sir Jim, shortly after his appointment as the General Manager of Trust, met Ian Philip, a construction worker from Northumberland, who died at the age of 54 after he was operated by Mrs. Booth.

The hospital then said to his family that surgeons operating on it could not perform a “bread and butter” procedure known as the graft byplace when they experience complications, and that the survival of the hospital would make “much more likely”.

BBC, Mr. Philip’s partner Melissa Cockburn and his son Liam’ın attended a meeting.

Sir Jim said that Mrs. Booth could continue her surgical career because GMC or an internal HR investigation has not been approved.

Sir Jim, “Supporting, re -training, implementation, etc. Türkiye needs to go through the process.

“We, as an employer, should we decide whether this is here or elsewhere.”

The BBC understands that Freeman Hospital is approaching at least one trust to ask if Ms. Booth.

Philip’s family told BBC that they were confused with Sir Jim’s words. “It is strange to me to think that Freeman is suitable [to bring her back]”Ian’s son, Liam Philip said.” The least thing they can do is say that they don’t come back. “

On January 1, 2024, Sir Jim became the General Manager of Newcastle Over Tyne Hospital Trust. The family said they hoped that the appointment in Trust would help.

“[We] Philip’s partner Melissa passed Christmas with great hope, thinking that she was a new man who came to solve everything.

But ultimately, Sir Jim said that he found “MS Booth more arrogant and more supportive than our predictions”.

Many of Ms. Booth’s surgical colleagues explained that they did not want trust to return to the senior leadership of trust again and that they believed a risk for patients.

This was a problem that Sir Jim also knew. At the meeting, if his colleagues were not willing to support a surgeon, he said that “the risk of security has increased a lot”.

“Re -integration of my integration to full clinical practice continues to support surgery and wider department colleagues are grateful to colleagues,” he said.

The family said that unhappiness with Sir Jim has worsened with GMC’s first investigation with Ms. Booth’s abolition of restrictions on the application.

GMC refused to comment on why a doctor who contributed to the death of more than one patient is allowed to explain what he said about the importance he gave to public security, and the GMC refused to comment on the death of NHS.

He said to the BBC: “Patient is in the center of everything we are safe for, and we will always take action where there is a risk for the public.” Samples decreased when requested to be given.

Patient groups have long complained that GMC has been very long to take action against medical officials. It can investigate the doctors referring to this and decide whether a case has been transferred to a medical court with personnel sanction power.

The figures have shown that since 2020, 1,120 cases of GMC has switched to a medical court, only 13 have to do with the performance of a doctor. I was asked to explain why the figures were so low, and GMC refused to comment.

In a statement to the BBC, Sir Jim said that after joining Tyne Hospitals Trust on Newcastle, Ms. Booth said that she had met families affected by her failures to “discuss and listen to her worries and repeat how upset we’ve been upset for losses and incompetent damages.”

“After the official guidance to the General Medical Council in 2022, the investigation into the application of this surgeon is still continuing – I know that it is annoying for everyone and I asked them what they could do to achieve a result as soon as possible.”

Ms. Booth, GMC examination due to the “current issue on certain issues will not be appropriate to comment on a public”, “he said.

An investigation by the Freeman Hospital found that Ms. Booth contributed to the bad consequences of a series of failures. In addition to surgical errors, it was partly inexperienced that he had a weak idea about his own level of competence and could not get help from his higher -level colleagues.

During the complaints, the heart unit in Freeman was in turmoil. While the Royal Surgeons College report found a problematic working culture in 2021, internal hospital reports criticized the process of poor governance procedures, reluctance to take responsibility from senior personnel and the best options for clinicians to discuss the best options for patients.

Responding to the BBC, the hospital accepted problems with the culture of the unit and said that he was always trying to protect patients.

This said that he thinks “the next stage of Ms. Booth’s gradual return as” appropriate standards, examination suggestions and external advice “. Considering some of his colleagues, he did not answer whether MS Booth patients were safe to return to cardiac unit.

In a statement, Newcastle on Tyne hospitals NHS Trust said that “the benefit of patients” and “taking into account the concerns shared by clinical colleagues,” always trying to protect and protect patient safety “, he said.