Background
On 24 March 2025 we provided an update on the reviews relating to the practice of Ms Kuldeep Stohr, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon who specialises in paediatric surgery. As a precautionary measure in 2024, the Trust restricted Ms Stohr’s clinical practice. Following the outcome of the initial external clinical review, she was suspended.
We would like to reiterate how sorry we are that this has happened and apologise unreservedly again to our patients and their families.
Our previous statements can be found here.
We are now confirming that both the external clinical review panel and the independent investigation team have commenced their work and we are providing updates on both of these.
External retrospective clinical review chaired by Andrew Kennedy KC
We announced on 24 February 2025 that we had appointed Andrew Kennedy KC to chair a panel of expert clinicians to undertake an external retrospective clinical review of Ms Stohr’s practice. This review has now begun and is looking at the care of 698 patients who have undergone planned surgical procedures during the time Ms Stohr has been employed by CUH.
The terms of reference for this external clinical review have been published on the Trust’s website here.
We are in the process of contacting patients and families to confirm that that they are in scope of this review and to outline the support we will provide to them as the review progresses. We have put in place a dedicated Patient and Family Liaison Team who will be the primary point of contact for patients and their families for the duration of the review.
While we anticipate that the process of reviewing all the patients will take at least a year, we will be contacting patients and families during this time once the review of their care is complete to inform them of the outcome and to confirm whether further clinical assessment and treatment are needed.
We understand this may feel like a long time for those patients and families who are waiting for answers but it is important that we do this in a thorough and comprehensive way.
We will publish the findings from the external clinical review once it has concluded and we will continue to provide updates as the review progresses.
Independent investigation into missed opportunities
Today we have also published here the terms of reference for the independent investigation into what was known when about the practice of Ms Stohr and whether there were opportunities to have identified and addressed these issues sooner.
We know that concerns were raised as early as 2015 and were the subject of an external clinical review in 2016. As part of their work, we have asked Verita, a specialist investigations company, to investigate whether that review was acted upon appropriately and, if not, why.
This independent investigation is due to be completed by the end of July 2025 and we will publish and implement the findings.
Support for patients and families
We will continue to focus on doing the right thing for patients and families. We understand the distress and anxiety that families are experiencing and we want to do everything we can to support them through this period.
In addition to our dedicated Patient and Family Liaison Team, our telephone helpline is available on 0808 175 6331 between 9am and 4pm Monday to Friday.
We also have a dedicated email address CUH.helpline@nhs.net and we will respond as quickly as we can.
We will continue to work with our local MPs and Healthwatch so they can best meet the needs of the constituents and patients they represent.
We apologise again for the impact this is having on patients and families and we will continue to provide public updates.