Patients who were treated by negligent breast surgeon Ian Paterson will gather to launch a petition and to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support on Friday 25 September.

Sarah Jane Downing, an author from Solihull, has organised a coffee and cake party for former patients and families of patients at the Arden Suite at The Greswolde Hotel, Knowle, Solihull at 12.30pm. She will be launching a petition to highlight their cause to politicians, and has invited the CEO of Spire to come and directly address their concerns.

The women will be joined by local MPs and their solicitors, Thompsons.

Mr Ian Paterson practiced as a cancer surgeon at hospitals owned by the Heart of England NHS Trust and Spire Healthcare in the Midlands. He performed operations on women that breached medical guidelines, leaving hundreds of women with incomplete or incorrect surgery. In other cases, he performed completely unnecessary procedures.

While the NHS has settled legal cases and paid damages to affected patients, private healthcare provider Spire has delayed making payments claiming that as Mr Paterson was not technically their employee, they are not responsible for his actions.

Sarah Jane Downing underwent surgery with Mr Paterson at Spire Parkway in 1998 after she found a lump. Mr Paterson performed a surgical procedure that has since been found to be wholly unnecessary; instead of removing potentially cancerous tissue, he instead removed perfectly healthy breast tissue.

Ms Downing is launching a petition with the support of fellow patients, Thompsons Solicitors and local MPs to urge Spire to begin to meaningfully engage with the process and provide much-needed compensation and closure to victims of Mr Paterson.

Sarah Jane said: “We are all devastated by what Mr. Paterson did to us. Some of the women Mr Paterson operated on are now battling secondary cancer because he failed to remove all of the cancerous tissue and others, like myself, underwent unnecessary procedures and endured the worry of a cancer misdiagnosis.

“Spire continue to add to our suffering by denying any responsibility for what happened - I’m horrified by the way Spire has treated us. Hopefully by coming together we can honour the memory of those who did not survive Mr Paterson’s treatment, share support and friendship and raise some money for a cause that has touched us all so personally.”

National Practice Lead for clinical negligence at Thompsons Solicitors, Linda Millband said: “It’s disappointing that the three potential Defendants in these cases won’t agree to settling the claims, and then dealing with the issue of apportionment between them. This would allow my clients to get on with their lives. The delay adds to my clients suffering, and in some tragic cases, suffering recurrences that might’ve been prevented by proper treatment.”

“We are told that for patients with terminal conditions we can arrange alternative dispute resolution meetings, and yet even securing dates for these from the legal teams acting on behalf of Mr Paterson, Spire and the Trust, is proving difficult. The Defendants need to stop avoiding the issue and pay compensation for the damage Mr Paterson has caused.”