Family of Maxine Spittlehouse, who died following a hysterectomy, call for greater regulation of private hospitals following her death.

Maxine was 48 years old when she died at Rotherham District General Hospital on 22nd July 2024, following a hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy carried out at Kinvara Private Hospital where she underwent the operation as an NHS patient 6 days earlier.

Maxine's husband David (aged 49) and daughter Millie (aged 24) believe that her death could have been avoided if the private hospital was properly equipped and had appropriately trained staff to deal with emergency complications. They have launched a petition calling for the government to review the regulations around hysterectomies in private hospitals 

The surgery, which she was advised to undergo to manage the pain and heavy vaginal bleeding cause by fibroids, took place at Kinvara Private Hospital on the 16^th July 2024. Shortly following the surgery she collapsed and was transferred by emergency ambulance to Rotherham District General Hospital where she sadly died on 22^nd July.  

The family hope that the Inquest, which begins at Doncaster Coroner’s Court on Monday 28^th April will give them answers to many of the questions, including the suitability of and preparedness of Kinvara Hospital to carry out the surgery. The family are represented by Christine Brown, a specialist medical negligence solicitor at Medical Solicitors. 

It is anticipated that the Inquest will consider:

• Mrs Spittlehouse’s diagnosis and plan of treatment 
• The arrangements for her treatment to be provided by the One Health Group and/or Kinvara Hospital, Rotherham 
• The suitability of the surgery 
• The suitability and preparedness of Kinvara Hospital to carry out surgeries of the type arranged for Mrs Spittlehouse in light of limited facilities and unavailable equipment 
• The availability of basic equipment or facilities for performing imaging studies or to provide blood transfusions at Kinvara Hospital 
• The events of 16-17 July 2024 
• The cause of the post-operative bleeding and whether it arose from any failure in surgical technique 
• Post-operative care 
• The cause of Mrs Spittlehouse’s death 
• Whether her death could and/or ought to have been avoided   

NHS and private sector partnership to cut waiting times

Following the pandemic private hospitals have routinely and increasingly been used to treat NHS patients in an effort reduce NHS waiting list times. In January 2025, the government announced a partnership between the NHS and the independent healthcare sector as part of their Elective Care Reform Plan. The deal was devised to tackle specialist areas of treatment with some of the longest waits, such as gynaecology and orthopaedics, with the aim to cut overall NHS waiting times down to 18 weeks. 

“Waiting list backlogs for non-urgent consultant led treatments remain a huge problem following the pandemic. One solution has been for there to be greater use of the private sector, with particular emphasis on joint operations and gynecological procedures, but patient safety should not be compromised. What happened to Mrs Spittlehouse highlights that when things go wrong,” said Christine Brown specialist medical negligence solicitor at Medical Solicitors who is representing Maxine’s family at the Inquest and in their claim for compensation following her death. 

With this initiative does assist in reducing wait time for treatment, assurances need to be made by the government that these facilities are suited to provide the necessary care for patients. 

Maxine’s widower, David Spittlehouse, said “Maxine went into hospital for what we thought was a routine operation. We need to understand what went wrong, and just how prepared the private hospital was in meeting her needs post-operatively. People assume that private hospitals are the same, if not better than NHS hospitals, but my daughter, Millie, and I want to shine a spotlight on how this may not be case.”

The husband and daughter of Maxine have launched a petition calling for the government to review the regulations around hysterectomies being carried out in private hospitals. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/702137 

Inquest Hearing  

The inquest will be held at Doncaster Coroner's Court, heard before HM Coroner Ms Georgina Gibbs. The Inquest will commence Monday 28th April and is set to conclude Friday 2 May 2024 (with Wednesday 30^th April being a non-sitting day).