A government inquiry has blamed poor management within the NHS for allowing the serious malpractice of consultant gynaecologist Rodney Ledward to continue for 16 years. Powerful constraints against “telling tales” and a culture of treating consultants as gods alsocontributed to the conspiracy of silence surrounding his poor surgical performance.

Some 160 women patients gave evidence to the inquiry, many of whom had been scarred physically and emotionally as a result of their treatment.

Mr Ledward was struck off the medical register in 1998 after managers at East Kent Hospitals Trust finally agreed to investigate long standing concerns that had been expressed by GPs, fellow consultants, and others. These included allegations that he pressurised NHS patients to have private treatment and asked them to bring cash with …