“I felt stunned and angry that this was allowed to happen” - the words of patient David Render who has been left “shocked” after receiving an apology and admission from Spire Washington Hospital that the quality of surgery he received was “poor” and caused damage to the structure of his wrist.

David, who lives in Washington, is just one of the patients who has been recalled by Spire Washington Hospital as part of an investigation into the procedures carried out by consultant orthopaedic surgeon Leslie Irwin who worked at the hospital between 2001 and 2023.

David Render with one of the misplaced screws which was in his finger. | Neil Fatkin

placeholder image — David Render with one of the misplaced screws which was in his finger. | Neil Fatkin

In January (2026) the private hospital confirmed it was contacting patients of Mr Irwin over concerns about procedures he carried out and that an investigation into his surgeries was underway.

NHS patients had also been referred to the private hospital, one of which was David.

Having first sought medical attention following damage to his wrist after a fall in 2017, initially with a different surgeon, he was referred to Mr Irwin the following year, who carried out operations at Spire Washington Hospital on David’s wrists, fingers and elbows, and he also underwent extensive tendon and ligament surgery.

David said he is angry about the care he has received. | Neil Fatkin

Explaining his first surgery with Mr Irwin, David, 64, said: “I had fallen and suffered a detached ligament from my wrist bone. I had my first surgery with a different doctor, but it didn’t work as the ligament detached again and so I was referred to Mr Irwin to sort it out. He was described as the best of the best and so I thought I was in safe hands.

“He said the operation was successful and after ten weeks of physio I was told to start living my normal life again.”

Retired production line worker David added: “I was at home and went to pick up my cup of tea and I felt a tearing sensation running down my little finger into my wrist. The pain was terrible, and it seemed to have a domino effect with more tearing sensations running down my hand into my wrist - it felt as if each ligament was tearing away, one by one.

“I later found out I had ruptured several ligaments in my hand and wrist due to a procedure Mr Irwin had used. I was told before the operation that I should make a full recovery and so there’s no way drinking a cup of tea should have done that.

Leslie Irwin was a surgeon at Spire Washington Hospital. | Contributed

“Mr Irwin had used something called a thermal wand which had burnt and damaged the ligaments in my wrist.”

This was confirmed in a letter of apology sent to David following the investigation into his procedures.

The letter signed by Spire Healthcare chiefs stated: “The technical standard of surgery was found to be poor due to: The technique that Mr Irwin used during the first procedure appears to have caused thermal damage to the structures of your wrist due to the use of a thermal wand. This is evident on an MRI scan taken in May 2018.”

Despite the setback, David assumed he had just been unlucky and returned into the care of Mr Irwin who performed a second operation in an attempt to repair the damage and to stabilise his wrist.

He said: “He took a ligament from my left arm to use in my right - I still get pain today where the left ligament was removed. I’m not sure what he did, but the second operation did seem stabilise my wrist, although I still get pain today and can’t do the things I used to like holding my camera.

“I’m certainly in more pain and have less flexibility than I was told I should have after the first operation. Mr Irwin said I should make a full recovery.”

Commenting on the second procedure in the letter Spire Healthcare chiefs stated: “The technique used during the second surgery to stabilise your wrist is not a known procedure to correct a radial/ulnar destabilisation.”

Whilst under the care of Mr Irwin, David also underwent operations to straighten his left and right little fingers which were bent due to a childhood incident.

David said: “Mr Irwin said he would put a screw in both my fingers to straighten them. However, following the operation my right finger became badly infected. It was only when I went to a different hospital with the infection that they removed the screws and I found out they had not even been drilled into the bone, but were in the surrounding flesh.”

The letter sent to David following the investigation stated: “The placement of the screws in both your right and left little fingers was poor and not in the bone. You had an infection after the surgery on your right little finger, but the management of this was not reviewed as we had no records of this treatment.”

David said he underwent a total of 11 surgeries from Mr Irwin, including one on either arm to release a trapped nerve, which he says does not seem to have been successful as he “still experiences pain”.

David was initially contacted by Spire Washington Hospital in 2025 when he was sent a questionnaire asking him about whether he was concerned about any of the procedures he had received and suffered any ongoing symptoms.

David said: “I completely trusted Mr Irwin and I responded by saying I was still experiencing pain and mobility issues, but I thought it was just due to my initial accident, not anything done incorrectly with my surgeries.”

Despite his response, on November 24 (2025) David was called to a meeting with hospital chiefs where he said he was told the surgeries he had received had been poor and had caused him harm.

A subsequent letter to David stated: “In summary, both the individual consultant and review members agreed you have come to harm due to indication for surgery, technique used, and no evidence of a duty of candour performed with regards to placement of screws.

“On behalf of Spire, I would like to apologise for the distress this review may have caused you and for the harm you have suffered as a result of your treatment by Mr Irwin.

“I would like to reassure you that the issues arising from Mr Irwin’s practice are taken very seriously by Spire. The outcomes of the reviews of Mr Irwin’s patients will be analysed in detail to make sure that any patterns of concern or lessons that can be learned are identified and acted upon.

“The findings of our review will be shared with the General Medical Council.”

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David said he has been offered access to counselling by Spire, although is still waiting for confirmation of this. He also said he was offered further surgery although he said this has now been changed to a course of steroid injections.

David said: “I feel angry and shocked that this has been allowed to happen. I no longer have trust in people in the medical profession - surely someone should have picked up much earlier that some of these surgeries had been done incorrectly.”

After being contacted by the Echo about David’s care a Spire Healthcare spokesperson said: “We sincerely apologise to those patients who did not receive an appropriate standard of care from Mr Leslie Irwin, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon who has not practised at Spire Washington Hospital since 2023.

“We are currently reviewing specific procedures that were provided to a select cohort of patients of Mr Irwin and are in direct contact with these patients to offer support at what we recognise is a concerning time. The review is being run in accordance with NHS England’s National Quality Board: Recall Framework, which Spire Healthcare helped to develop.

“If any Spire Washington patients have questions about the care provided by Mr Irwin, they can call 0191 720 3031 or email [email protected] and a member of the dedicated review team will call them back.”

Spire Healthcare confirmed in an earlier statement that Mr Irwin was suspended in August 2023 and they withdrew his practising privileges in September 2024.

Mr Irwin also practised as a surgeon at Sunderland Royal Hospital. Earlier this month (February) Georgia Sprago, said she was wrongly told she may need to have her arm amputated.

In an updated statement, a spokesperson for South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust said: "We are liaising with Spire in relation to concerns over Mr Leslie Irwin and currently working through the detail of which patients the Trust will need to review.

“We have also asked the Royal College of Surgeons to support us in this process.

“As part of this review, we will be in touch with any former patients directly and as a matter of priority.

“Any former patients of Mr Irwin who do have any questions or concerns can contact the Trust directly via freephone 0800 587 6513 or email: [email protected]."

Following publication of the stories, an increasing number of people have contacted law firm Slater and Gordon who now say they are acting for “dozens” of Mr Irwin’s former patients.

Clinical negligence solicitor Ayesha Hussain said: “David put his full trust in his surgeon, as anyone would, and believed he was receiving the highest standards of care which everyone is entitled to. To discover this has fallen well short has been devastating for him – particularly from a doctor he held in such high regard.”

The General Medical Council confirmed “Dr Leslie Irwin is no longer registered, having relinquished his registration”, adding “we only have powers to investigate doctors who are GMC registered”.

We also contacted the Royal College of Surgeons who directed us to contact South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust and Spire Washington Hospital.