Untrained hospital staff using textbooks are treating children and victims of sexual abuse after an NHS trust suspended a specialist service, it has been claimed.
A paediatric doctor has launched an attack on St George’s Hospital’s proposals to close its urogynecology department, which treats urinary incontinence and female pelvic floor disorders, and warned patients were missing out on vital care.
June 10: St George's Hospital suspends urogynaecology services
October 22: St George's Hospital urogynaecology department faced with closure after lead consultant steps down
November 13: Future plan for St George's threatened urogynaecology unit as trust extends consultation
St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust suspended and launched a review of the service after its clinical lead quit last year, forcing adult patients to go to Croydon University Hospital and children to be treated by other staff at the Tooting hospital. Between 30 and 35 Sutton patients use the service.
Michelle Fynes, a urogynecologist at St George’s, told a Sutton Council scrutiny meeting young patients were not receiving the specialist treatment they needed.
She said on Wednesday last week: “I came across a local consultant gynaecologist in the outpatient clinic seeing patients of between seven to 10 years of age in an adult clinic.
She had no training whatsoever, she had borrowed textbooks from the library the day before to read up, she had an adult assistant with her.
“The children who she was seeing were very much in need of a specialist peadiatric service, not a general gynaecologist.
"I had been advised repeatedly that any consultant is sufficient – that they don’t need anyone with specialist training and that is quite frankly wrong.”
A protest outside St George's Hospital.
St George’s suspended the service in June and launched a consultation on its closure weeks later.
Patient Barbara Bohanna was left “shattered and in disbelief” when she learned her treatment had been moved to Croydon University Hospital. She added: “Accident and emergency is not the place that patients with our condition should be heading for.”
Dr Fynes said the voices of the patients affected had not been heard. She added: “Consultation is a verb, engagement is a verb, it involves interaction with the people who will be affected by the change. As far as I’m concerned the entire process has been unlawful.”
Andrew Rhodes, chairman of St George’s women’s services said it was “difficult” to know if child sex abuse victims were being treated by staff unqualified in paediatric gynaecology. He added: “The first thing is, have they all been appropriately trained in safeguarding? We are working towards that.”
A St George’s spokeswoman said children “were not part of the transfer of the urogynaecology service [to Croydon] and their care remains at St George’s by appropriately trained medical staff.”
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