'I've had years of hell'

Pat Looms lives a life filled with pain, fear and embarrassment. At 53, she has to wear nappies to counter her incontinence and eat baby food to cope with severe digestive problems which leave her chronically constipated. Paralysing panic attacks are also a feature of her life since she underwent surgery at the hands of Richard Neale at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton, in 1993.

Pat had a hysterectomy and bladder suspension operation to correct a series of health problems she faced at the time which included heavy, excruciating periods and incontinence.

She was put under the care of Mr Neale - who was struck off the medical register by the General Medical Council yesterday - and was initially relieved to be told that these operations would alleviate her dreadful symptoms.

"It was a relief, firstly to find out what was wrong and secondly that something could be done about it. I was told it would make a new woman of me."

It was three days after surgery that Pat realised something was not quite right.

"I got this incredible pain in my abdomen and it swelled up. I hadn't been to the loo to do a proper motion since the morning before the operation."

On leaving hospital, the constipation continued, with her stomach swelling when she ate.

Then she began having panic attacks.

"I didn't know what was happening. You get this pressure in your head and it makes it difficult to focus. You feel a real depression, your feet and hands start to sweat and you get pins and needles. Your chest tightens and you start to hyperventilate. Then you break out in a sweat.

"At first, I thought it was an epileptic fit. I couldn't close my eyes and just sat still. It was like being in a bubble and waiting for it to go away. It was the most horrible feeling you could imagine."

Around this time, Pat, from Northallerton, began restricting what she ate in an attempt to ease her digestive problems.

"Why eat if it hurts?" Pat explains. "What's the point in eating if you can't get rid of it and you look eight months pregnant when you only weigh seven stones?

"I lost an awful lot of weight and got very depressed."

In the end, Pat had to go back to hospital, but this time to be treated in the psychiatric ward.

Within eight months of the operation, there was another blow: her incontinence returned.

Pat was reduced to using nappies and eating baby food. She was prescribed Prozac for her depression and tablets to ease her digestion as well as laxatives.

"There are loads of things I just can't eat: bread, cheese, pastry, fruit, vegetables. I eat what I know won't hurt me: that tends to be biscuits and baby food, but even after three or four days of that, I get indigestion. I can't eat meat and I don't remember the last time I ate chips or potatoes."

Pat says it's fortunate she doesn't have a husband or children.

"The only consolation is that I am not married. If I had a husband or teenage kids I don't know what I'd do. I've lost a lot of friends because of my panic attacks. People ask me out, but I can't go as I might have one when I'm out."

She added: "I've had years of hell and I can't live like this much longer."

Pat did not give evidence at the General Medical Council's investigation into Mr Neale, but is a member of the support group of patients with complaints against the surgeon.

Mr Neale, 52, of Langthorpe near Boroughbridge, was struck off after the GMC found him guilty of a catalogue of errors over two decades including performing operations without consent, conducting sub-standard surgery and unnecessary procedures.

Pat says the support group has proved to be a lifeline.

"It wasn't until I met this group that I realised there were ladies having the same problems.

"It was a relief. I have elderly parents and they just could not understand what was going on."

Being part of this group has given Pat the courage to face up to the possibility that her problems may have been caused by Mr Neale.

She did not give evidence to the inquiry because as yet, she has no record of what has gone wrong. But she is going back to the hospital for more tests and is clear about what she wants to find out from her new consultant.

"If he says I need another operation I would definitely ask what he was going to do and ask if he could see what Mr Neale has done and whether it has affected what he can do for me."

As for any further action, she says it will be a group decision.

"There is weight in numbers. One individual is like a grain of sand on a beach."

In the meantime, she has this advice for other women: "If I was going through this again, I'd want to know exactly what was involved. I really didn't think of the consequences of the operation."

What the doctors say...

PILOT schemes are to be run in selected hospitals to monitor the work of gynaecologists in an attempt to restore public confidence in the profession.

James Drife, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Leeds General Infirmary and junior vice-president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said the pilot scheme was the result of a discussion by the profession on how to maintain standards.

Under the scheme doctors would:

Face checks on the results of their operations

Undergo annual checks by their medical director

Be asked to sign statements on the competencies of their colleagues.

Complaints would also be logged and patients would be surveyed regularly about the care they had received.

He believes these moves will reassure patients.

"What the public needs to know is that we are not just sitting back and saying this is a one-off, rest assured we're not all like that. Of course, that's what we would say. The public needs to know there is a mechanism in place to prove it and that they don't just have to take my word for it that 99.9 per cent of gynaecologists are great - we can demonstrate it."

PICTURE: Richard Neale, who was yesterday struck off the medical register