Dr. Allan Goldman:

The point I would like to get across was that it was really important we did a very robust investigation. Initially, we had to get our general data protection regulation, GDPR, right with Boston in terms of data protection in that agreement. BCH staff were involved from March until June and we got the report in July. They visited us in May. Six clinicians came over - the head of spinal surgery, two anaesthetists, a neurodisability consultant and a senior nursing manager. This was a very extensive review, which we are very, very grateful for. They engaged very positively and we got a report in a very timely manner. I know for the public, the families and everybody else that seems an age but for such an extensive review, it was done, from a medical perspective, in a very timely manner. We are terribly grateful for that.

We got huge amounts of learning from the Boston review, which I alluded to earlier, about the clinical things we needed to do immediately and our systems changes that we needed to do. We continued to engage with BCH staff and our plan going forward is to improve things and to continue that engagement so we can do that with them. I just really wanted to make those points very clearly to this committee and to the families that this really was an extensive process and one we have taken enormously seriously. We are seeking to improve not only spinal surgery but our whole system of safety and of how we go forward.