AN AMATEUR footballer who was left in agony after a private Halesowen hospital carried out ‘inadequate’ surgery on his knee injury has revealed his relief after securing a five-figure pay out.

Tomas Adams, of Oldbury, felt his knee ‘pop’ while playing football in 2013 and he underwent anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction at the Colman Hill-based West Midlands Hospital in April 2014.

However, the 27-year-old continued to suffer problems with his knee and an MRI scan in January 2015 showed evidence of a re-tear. Further surgery in March 2015 was successful, although revision will be needed.

Following the re-tear, Mr Adams instructed lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate his case and they launched legal action against Ramsay Health Care UK – operators of West Midlands Hospital – arguing there were a “series of failings” in his treatment.

The issue revolved around whether the ACL graft had been positioned correctly, but lawyers on both sides agreed to a five-figure settlement for the university graduate.

Mr Adams said he is now looking to a brighter future, adding: “You put great trust in medical experts when you suffer injuries of this nature, so I was devastated when I discovered there had been failings in my care.

“It has been an incredibly frustrating few years where my life has been dominated by hospital appointments and gruelling physio sessions, but after receiving this settlement, I just want to put this behind me and move on with my life.

“I only hope now that no one else has to go through what I have faced and lessons have properly been learned.”

Although unable to comment on the specific details of the case, a spokesman for Ramsey Health Care, said: “We take any incident or surgical complication extremely seriously and ensure that lessons are learnt so that we can deliver the highest standard of care for our patients.

“We would like to wish Mr Adams the very best for his ongoing recovery.”

Ashley Cocker, medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, added: “Were it not for the substandard surgery, our client would have made a full recovery sooner and he would have avoided the need for two-stage revision surgery.

“It is clear in this case that standards of care fell below the required standard and it is vital that such issues are simply never repeated again.

“While nothing can change what has happened, we hope that this settlement will go some way to allowing our client to move forward with his life and put the issues he has faced behind him.”