Cambridge hospital accused of ‘covering up’ concerns about suspended surgeon a decade ago

One of the country’s leading hospitals has been accused of covering up concerns about a surgeon made a decade before she was eventually suspended.

Kuldeep Stohr was suspended from Addenbrooke’s Hospital in January this year after a review found issues with some of her surgeries – with the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) later saying it was reviewing the care of 800 patients.

A joint investigation by Sky News and The Sunday Times found the trust may have downplayed previous concerns, with a report identifying issues with Ms Stohr back in 2016.

A senior source at the hospital said children were “severely permanently harmed”, and “some of the cases are horrendous”. They said the damage could have been avoided and told Sky News there was “the impression of a cover up”.

In one case, a child injured in a car accident was left with a broken arm for 11 days after Ms Stohr failed to spot it.

Concerns were first raised in 2015, with the CUH commissioning an external expert to examine several of Ms Stohr’s patients and their treatment.

A letter shared between staff at the time – and seen by Sky News – says the trust was satisfied the report did not raise any concerns.

But a copy of the report, obtained by Sky News and The Sunday Times, shows it did identify “technical issues” with the surgeries of multiple patients.

Now questions are being asked about why the hospital didn’t act sooner.

One patient, whose son was treated by the surgeon in 2018, says she is “angry” she was not listened to at the time after she raised concerns about Ms Stohr’s conduct.

Ms Stohr said: “I always strive to provide the highest standards of care to all my patients. I am cooperating fully with the trust investigation and it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

Dr Susan Broster, chief medical officer at Cambridge University Hospitals said the trust “apologise unreservedly to all the patients and families we have let down”.

She added that patients who were considered in the 2016 report also form part of the latest clinical review: “We have spoken to those patients and families and offered to meet them in person.”

It is not clear if those patients were contacted at the time of the first report.

‘Some of the cases are horrendous’

A source at the hospital said the damage was “all avoidable” while “the lives of children and families have been ruined”.

“Stohr destroyed people’s lives by performing very poor surgery. She destroyed some hip joints,” they said.

But they said staff felt they were “bullied and intimidated when they tried to raise concerns”, and were told the initial 2016 report showed no issues with Ms Stohr.

“I consider that these cases have been properly investigated and am reassured that there is no concern about Kuldeep’s practice,” said a letter sent to staff from the trust in 2016.

“I have the impression there has been a cover up,” the source told Sky News.

Dr Broster, from the CUH, said the trust had commissioned Verita, a specialist investigations company, to carry out an independent investigation to see if issues could have been addressed sooner – but added that it would be inappropriate to comment further while the review was ongoing.

She said the trust would publish the findings of the Verita report and said it was “committed to implementing the findings and recommendations in full”, with the initial findings expected by the autumn.

‘Technical errors’: What the 2016 report said

The doctor who authored the 2016 report wrote he had “some anxieties about the technical aspects” of one patient’s operation.

He highlighted “technical error[s]” on several other operations.

Some patients were “difficult cases” where “decision making was broadly correct”, and issues were not found with each one.

On one patient, the report said an issue that arose was a “known complication and does not indicate poor care. These were difficult hips”.

The report also cited a “divided apartment of paediatric orthopaedics” in which “discussion of difficult cases and mutual support does not exist”.

But the report did say Ms Stohr did not always order CT scans after operations took place.

It said all cases of DDH (Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip) surgery should have an MRI or CT scan after the operation had been completed.

Two reports, nine years apart

Ms Stohr was suspended this year with a 2025 report highlighting similar concerns, including around post-op imaging.

The 2025 findings said one procedure – a pelvic osteotomy, where the pelvic bone is cut and reshaped to improve the alignment of the hip joint – was one “Ms Stohr appears to find difficult”.

It also raised concerns that Ms Stohr “frequently operates on her own”, or with more junior members of staff.

“There have clearly been cases when technical issues arose during surgery where the presence of a consultant colleague may have been helpful,” the latest report said.

It also said the lack of imaging at the end of procedures “is inexplicable and not the standard of care”.

Catherine Slattery, senior associate at Irwin Mitchell who is representing some of the affected families, said both reports showed “similar themes”.

“Clearly things have got much worse in 2025. So, the question is, what could have been done in 2016 to have prevented this from happening?” she said.

Issues, such as Ms Stohr not ordering bone scans, were “very strange”, she added.

“But if we take the individual out, why has nobody else noticed that every other surgeon in the team has been ordering scans, but one person hasn’t?”

But she said the trust has “been playing catch up”: “[It] only seems to be taking steps when they are being prompted to do so by people like me, or journalists, or other people asking difficult questions – or even the local MP having to ask difficult questions.”

‘Leave it in the hands of God’

Seven-year-old Oliver Muhlhausen has constant foot pain – and it’s getting worse.

He was born with a severe deformity which Ms Stohr said didn’t need to be operated on.

Oliver was seen by the specialist surgeon in 2018, but his mother, Nicola, claims she was told: “There is no operation within my remits or that I can or am willing to perform, go away and leave it in the hands of God.”

The family eventually sought a second opinion, moving to be treated at a different hospital, but said Oliver has been left in “constant agony”.

“I’ve been told that if she had done something sooner or even attempted to do something sooner then he probably would have stood a bit better chance than what he’s currently going through.”

Nicola said she “upset and angry” at not being listened to, especially considering concerns were raised internally two years before her son became a patient of Ms Stohr.

“I cannot understand why something was not done sooner, because clearly there were issues,” she said, adding that hospital staff “need to be held accountable”.

She filed a formal complaint in 2019 but said this was “brushed under the carpet”.

In response to her complaint at the time, the trust said Ms Stohr “would like to apologise unreservedly for her failures of clear communication”.

‘Life could be different now’

Ellise Kingsley is now 24 and cannot walk for long periods of time – she is left in daily pain and distress.

She is not one of the 800 cases currently being examined by the CUH but was operated on by Ms Stohr in 2012 and 2016.

She said, had the 2016 report been acted on, life could be very different for her now.

“It is upsetting to think that I could have had a completely different lifestyle as such in the last ten years,” she said.

“I wouldn’t have had to even think about my foot now at 24.

“It stresses me out actually to think that there was a chance for change, but change didn’t happen.”

Pippa Heylings, MP for South Cambridgeshire, said it was an “anxious and distressing time for all involved”, and called on Addenbrooke’s Hospital to be “open and transparent” as well as independent.

She said: “The hospital cannot be seen to be marking its own homework. It is crucial for all to come forward with relevant information and evidence including whistleblowers with no fear of consequence or retaliation.”

The CUH said it has set up a dedicated Patient and Family Liaison Team, and encourages anyone concerned about their care to call the dedicated helpline on 0808 175 6331 or email [email protected].