Yaser Jabbar review by Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital says 94 children were harmed

It confirms that between 94 children came to harm through surgery carried out by Mr Jabbar who worked at GOSH from 2017 to September 2023.

More than a quarter of patients Mr Jabbar operated on came to harm, the report said. Thirty-five had suffered severe harm.

In a statement issued on 29 January 2026, GOSH said:

“GOSH is deeply sorry for what the children and their families affected by this review have experienced and the lasting impact this may have.

"We know that we have broken the trust that so many families place in us. We have also heard of the guilt that many families are carrying that they did not spot that something was wrong, or that they feel they should have spoken up. The harm their children have come to happened in our hospital and is no one’s fault but ours.”

The review by GOSH of Mr Jabbar’s patients followed a Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) report that was commissioned by GOSH and published in October 2023.

The RCS report laid much of the blame on GOSH for a failure to address Mr Jabbar’s below-standard surgery and care after it had been flagged by other staff. It said the trust leadership “had manifestly failed in their responsibility … A number of staff raised concerns more than once, verbally and in writing, and were met with either a lack of decisive action or, in some cases, no response at all”.

In its review GOSH said it would ensure there are “formalised, robust and transparent” ways for staff to raise concerns.

Mr Jabbar’s young patients typically underwent limb-lengthening and reconstruction procedures. It often involved breaking the bone, inserting metal rings, known as Ilizarov frames, and tension wires. The break would be gradually widened, allowing new bone to grow.

Before moving to GOSH, Mr Jabbar worked at the NHS-run Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Trust and also worked at private hospitals.

He left GOSH in September 2023 after an 11-month sabbatical. He gave up his licence to practise in the UK.

Leigh Day partner Julia Reynolds represents Janetta Nana-Owusu who was treated by Mr Jabbar in 2020 when she was aged 12 and has been left with lifelong painful complications. The severe harm she suffered from surgery performed by Mr Jabbar has been confirmed to her and her mother Catherine in a report from GOSH which also criticises surgical skill, consent process and then managing of complications resulting from the surgery. It said surgical skill and ownership of complications was an ‘unacceptable’ standard.

Janetta underwent surgery to correct ‘bowed legs’, but the GOSH report into her case said there did not appear to be any discussion about surgical options and the surgery was poorly executed. Following the operation she suffered several complications, with many further surgical procedures under general anaesthetic and there was little engagement by Mr Jabbar.

The original surgery was not successful, with the plates in her knee not aligned properly. Janetta has severe scarring, has difficulties walking distances and suffers pain.

Janetta Nana-Owusu said:

“It was difficult to go through the surgeries again and again when I was just 12 years old. Now I have been left with bad scarring which I will have all my life. I can’t walk long distances without being in pain, and my original condition still has not been resolved.”

Her mother Catherine said:

“It was emotionally draining to see Janetta go through the many surgeries she had to endure after the original surgery. There was a period when literally every Thursday she had to have anaesthesia for another procedure. It was very difficult not to know what would happen. It has been devastating to watch my daughter in so much pain.”

Julia Reynolds also represents the family of a 20-year-old woman who underwent surgery by Yaser Jabbar, again for bowed legs. A report from GOSH stated that she had suffered severe harm and investigations and decision making were of an unacceptable standard, while there was room for improvement in surgery and ownership of complications.

Julia’s client has been left with ‘drop foot’ and deformities due to nerve damage. She can no longer walk far, is prone to stumbling and suffers from anxiety.

Following the publication of the GOSH review of their many patients’ care under Yaser Jabbar, Leigh Day partner Julia Reynolds said:

“Patients have been left too long to learn that GOSH now acknowledges the severe harm that Yaser Jabbar caused to children in his care and that they did not listen when patients and even other staff raised concerns.

“Although reassurances have been offered, only time will tell that GOSH has understood that managers need to listen to patients who tell them they believe something is wrong with the treatment they have received.

“As Martha's Law has shown all too tragically, this pattern of listening to families too late is something that NHS managers and staff need to address and deal with urgently.

“Also, and very importantly, when reviews are undertaken finally, families need to be involved. As far as I can tell, this review was undertaken without the full engagement of families who yet again have been treated as peripheral to the learning and remediation process.”