MORE than a thousand East Surrey Hospital cancer patients are being written to this week over fears they may have been mistreated.
Consultant urologist Paul Miller has been sacked from his post at the Earlswood hospital after an investigation found 27 people have come to "serious significant harm" because of the treatment they received under his care.
In total, 1,200 bladder and prostate cancer patients may have been treated wrongly.
Michael Wilson, chief executive of Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, told the Mirror: "Without a shadow of a doubt we apologised unreservedly for the care these patients experienced.
"We dismissed this urologist from his post."
The alarm was raised in November last year when Mr Miller's fellow consultants and specialist nurses expressed concerns about his practice.
He was suspended in December and an investigation was carried out by the Royal College of Surgeons, which said that 1,200 of his patients, dating back to 2006, had to be reviewed.
A group of GPs, urologists from other hospitals and cancer nurse specialists looked at the patients' notes and found 27 came to harm.
The care of a further small number of patients also fell below hospital standards, the trust said.
Mr Wilson would not be drawn on details of the errors, but confirmed Mr Miller had not "followed the advice of multi-disciplinary teams in carrying out established and recognised cancer treatments".
The affected patients were due to receive letters this week.
Trust medical director Des Holden said: "I acknowledge and appreciate the outcome of the clinical review and the content of the letters will be deeply distressing to our patients and their families, and I am very sorry."
Mr Miller has been banned from treating urological cancer patients while an investigation by the General Medical Council is carried out.
Concerned East Surrey Hospital patients can call a helpline on 0808 168 7754 Monday to Friday, between 11am and 7pm.
