Spire Healthcare agrees to pay £27.2m in compensation to victims of rogue breast surgeon

Spire Healthcare has agreed to pay £27.2 million to provide compensation to around 750 victims of rogue breast surgeon Ian Paterson.

Private healthcare firm Spire will pay £27.2m into a fund, with an additional £10m coming from Paterson’s insurers and the Heart of England NHS Trust.

The payments concern patients treated at private Spire Healthcare hospitals in the West Midlands, who Paterson worked for when he carried out hundreds of botched operations.

Heart of England NHS Trust was part of the civil action because patients said it failed to notify Spire of Paterson’s dangerous methods discovered while working for Solihull Hospital.

The surgeon’s trial heard he wildly exaggerated his patients’ cancer symptoms, leading them to have several needless operations which left them scarred for life physically and emotionally.

Fellow medics at Solihull Hospital first raised concerns about his conduct in 2002 when it emerged Paterson was carrying out unregulated cleavage-sparing mastectomies on cancer patients, which left them at higher risk of the disease returning.

Despite three reports into his actions, he carried on working until 2011 when he was suspended by the Trust.

Paterson was found guilty of 17 counts of wounding with intent in April after a trial at Nottingham Crown Court.

In August, he had his 15-year jail sentence increased to 20 years after the Appeal Court ruled his term was too lenient.