A woman who underwent needless surgery at the hands of convicted surgeon Ian Paterson said patient safety was still not being prioritised.

Paterson was convicted of 17 counts of wounding with intent in 2017 and was jailed for 20 years.

Debbie Douglas, who now campaigns for his victims, said more still needed to be done following a damning report.

In December, the Department for Health said it was making "good progress" on changes.

The inquiry, published in 2020, made 15 recommendations and Ms Douglas called on health chiefs to "get on" with the improvements.

"It's three years and technically none of the recommendations are closed," she said.

"It's all around patient safety and it's not being given the priority it deserves."

Image source, SWNS

Between 1997 and 2011, Paterson is known to have treated thousands of patients at Spire Parkway hospital and Spire Little Aston hospital in the West Midlands.

The former surgeon, originally from Bangor, County Down, subjected hundreds of patients to needless and damaging surgery over 14 years.

He also worked at NHS hospitals run by the former Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust.

Last week, Spire announced it was recalling a further 1,500 of Paterson's patients after a trawl of IT systems.

The 2020 inquiry had already recommended all 11,000 of his patients be recalled for re. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk

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