Tom Hadrys told Newsnight about the lasting impact on his health following his hernia surgery in 2016 The surgeon who carried out the procedure, at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton in 2016, also left behind part of Tom Hadrys's bowel that had been cut out during the operation. According to a hospital incident report seen by BBC Newsnight, the surgeon realised his mistakes while driving home from work. Sussex Police are investigating at least 105 cases of alleged medical negligence by two surgery teams at the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.
The trust said the work of its surgery teams "are continuously and closely monitored", and "whenever our care falls short of our high standards, we take immediate action". Coming round in a recovery ward bed as the effects of his general anaesthetic were wearing off, retired engineer Tom Hadrys, 63, remembers being approached by a doctor. "I was conscious," Mr Hadrys says, "and I heard what must have been the surgeon whispering in my ear.
He said, 'I'm terribly sorry', and I think he said, 'We made a mistake, and I've got to take you back to surgery'." Mr Hadrys later learned the surgeon had been running through the operation in his mind while driving home and realised what he had done. "He turned his car around and drove back to the hospital," Mr Hadrys says.
The same surgeon subsequently performed a second surgical procedure to remove both the specimen bag and the section of bowel mistakenly left behind durin.