Paul Murphy demands public inquiry into Temple Street abuses
Paul Murphy spoke about alleged abuse and unnecessary hip operations at Temple Street, accusing individual doctors including Connor Green of malpractice and highlighting systemic governance failures. He said a whistleblower prompted FOIs, an internal review, the Boston review, the Hip Grow report and the NYAM report, and he called for a public inquiry and a review of all surgeries by the implicated doctor.
Paul Murphy described abuse of vulnerable children at Temple Street, including the insertion of metal springs and allegations of unnecessary osteotomies for hip dysplasia. He cited draft findings that suggest very high rates of unnecessary hip operations - around 80% at CHI and 60% at Kappa - and warned that these unnecessary surgeries affected families over several years.
He emphasised that a brave whistleblower triggered FOIs and parliamentary questions that led to an internal review, the Boston review, the Hip Grow report and the promised NYAM and Medical Council reports. He said that without that whistleblower, springs could still be being inserted in children and that the case exposed cultural and governance failures in oversight.
Murphy recounted the case of a family whose daughter Amelia underwent surgery in 2018, suffered long recovery and ongoing pain, and whose sibling narrowly avoided an unnecessary operation. He said parents described bullying and intimidation within the hospital culture and that many families feel they have not had every surgery audited or reviewed.
He argued that the malpractice of Connor Green must be investigated and that every surgery performed by him, including on adults, should be reviewed. He reiterated a call for a public inquiry and for a broader examination of hospital governance, clinical director models and how such malpractice went undetected.
Allegations and scope
Paul Murphy described abuse of vulnerable children at Temple Street, including the insertion of metal springs and allegations of unnecessary osteotomies for hip dysplasia. He cited draft findings that suggest very high rates of unnecessary hip operations - around 80% at CHI and 60% at Kappa - and warned that these unnecessary surgeries affected families over several years.
Whistleblower and reviews
He emphasised that a brave whistleblower triggered FOIs and parliamentary questions that led to an internal review, the Boston review, the Hip Grow report and the promised NYAM and Medical Council reports. He said that without that whistleblower, springs could still be being inserted in children and that the case exposed cultural and governance failures in oversight.
Family testimony and individual cases
Murphy recounted the case of a family whose daughter Amelia underwent surgery in 2018, suffered long recovery and ongoing pain, and whose sibling narrowly avoided an unnecessary operation. He said parents described bullying and intimidation within the hospital culture and that many families feel they have not had every surgery audited or reviewed.
Calls for inquiry and wider review
He argued that the malpractice of Connor Green must be investigated and that every surgery performed by him, including on adults, should be reviewed. He reiterated a call for a public inquiry and for a broader examination of hospital governance, clinical director models and how such malpractice went undetected.
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Transcript
and what has happened at temple street is the abuse of vulnerable children that abuse may have been motivated by a doctor or doctors who thought that they knew best they were doing the best for their children they didn't need to obey the rules it may have been motivated by a hunt to maximize income through private health insurance regardless of the reason it is abuse it is abuse by individual doctors like connor green who inserted the three metal springs and there's other allegations of malpractice but it's also abuse by individual doctors and individual wrongdoing that went undetected by the system if it was not for a whistleblower then the fois that the whistleblower prompted and the parliamentary questions we wouldn't have had the internal review we wouldn't have the boston review and we wouldn't have the hip grow report the nyam report that is due the report to the medical council that is the scariest part of all of this is that if it was not for a brave whistleblower you could still have springs being inserted in new children today and there are real cultural and governance issues here in terms of how was this not spotted one point where to me has been the the chi clinical director model where one person sits over 12 specialities unable to really keep an eye on what is happening and we shouldn't treat the issue of unnecessary osteotomies on a massive and gross scale unnecessary operations for hip dysplasia as a separate issue from the malpractice of connor green it was part of the same culture a culture whereby there was bullying there was intimidation and where no one at temple street felt able to shout stop but what's that spring doing in that child why are we having all these operations on children who clearly don't need them i mean incredible the draft report suggests 80 percent unnecessary hip operations at ch i 60 percent at kappa what does that look like for the families i met with louise and colin the week before last and they were in um temple street with their daughter amelia and originally they went there was there was a possibility that she might need uh the osteomotomy on one hip and then thankfully they got they went to another doctor there and said no no it should be fine you don't need it and then they went to a particular doctor who i won't name at this stage who said no no definitely need it and you need it in both uh hips and the mother was really uneasy she was uneasy with the manner of the doctor she was only easy with how eager he was to do the operation she felt this isn't right but obviously the situation where doctor is telling you you need to do it she couldn't even bring her daughter to the hospital uh that day and clearly she she kind of blames herself she obviously should not blame herself at all but then afterwards amelia she lost weeks of play school she was six before she could walk properly it's happened in 2018 by the way the operation she was slowest to do a cartwheel last to ride a bike um up until seven and a half would come in saying oh my legs are sore she was discharged at six years of age she'd been told that she would have annual checkups since 16 and then suddenly discharged at six and just a few months ago when she was nine and they were louise was watching us on leaders questions and asked do you ever have any problems still with your with your hips and she said oh only when i walk up the stairs i get pain at the top of of the stairs the scariest part of the story though isn't what happened to amelia it's that her second daughter hannah was in uh had an eye condition at the time and when they were discharging amelia this doctor said oh i'd like to check out hannah and the mother said it's not necessary she'd be checked in the comb and he was absolutely obsessed he checked he then logged into the chi database he looked at the scan himself i'm not happy with this she needs to get both hips uh done she went back to the coom the doctor said no no that's a lot of nonsense she doesn't need any hips uh done and thankfully hannah did not get uh the operations and she would she's not included in the audit because she's 2018 in the audience 2021 to 2023 and i would say every hip operation is going to need to be looked at in order for these parents to get the support the other final point i'd make is that the nyam report is going to be damning i would say in terms of conor green but every surgery that conor green did including on adults needs now to be looked at i have a horrifying case from an audience pressured into uh what seems to be an inappropriate surgery and we need to broaden it as well as have a public inquiry please