Review of brain surgery at Birmingham's QE hospital

A type of brain surgery offered at a Birmingham hospital is being reviewed after a patient claimed to have received "ineffective" treatment.

Electrodes were implanted in the wrong place by medics at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, lawyers for the patient said.

The treatment induces electrical impulses to try to control and reduce the symptoms of a range of conditions.

The trust said independent specialists were examining the cases of 23 patients who had procedures from 2017 to 2019.

Deep brain stimulation surgery can help conditions such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease, but Michael Portman-Hann, from solicitors FBC Manby Bowdler, said he was worried about the long-term impact on the health of a number of patients treated at the hospital.

"We are acting for one client in whom the electrodes were reportedly fitted in entirely the wrong place," he said.

"As a result, the treatment was ineffective and actually caused some side-effects which were worse than his initial symptoms. Further revision surgery is required but this has been delayed."

The hospital, run by University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation Trust, said it was working to understand why some patients may not have benefited from the treatment as expected.

Three external neurologists and two external neurosurgeons are conducting the review.

A UHB spokesperson said: "The review will look at outcomes in patients who underwent procedures from 2017-2019 and will be conducted by independent specialists.

"The initial part of the review is expected to report in the autumn."

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