In January, police announced that criminal investigations into six women allegedly harmed by Mr Hay had been dropped, while work on the remaining 30 continued
Daniel Hay is reported to have stopped clinical work in 2018(Image: DELTA Centre)
A former doctor who was being investigated following allegations of carrying out medical procedures without consent has died.
Derbyshire police have put out a statement saying that Daniel Hay died at hospital of natural causes and that detectives have contacted all of those involved in the investigation.
It added: “The force is now reviewing what this latest development means for the investigation moving forwards.
“We will continue keep in contact with all those involved as the review continues.”
Police have been carrying out a criminal investigation into former doctor Daniel Hay, aged 61, a former obstetrician and gynaecologist at Royal Derby Hospital, since September 2022.
In January, the police announced that criminal investigations into six women allegedly harmed by Mr Hay had been dropped by the police, while work on the remaining 30 continued.
The police update came three months after the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, Mr Hay’s former employer, released a report into his conduct involving 383 cases from 2015 to 2018, three years after it had been completed.
It found Mr Hay, who worked at the hospital from 2005 to 2020, had harmed dozens of women by performing unconsented surgeries, with his conduct going virtually unchecked by hospital bosses.
This involved conduct at both Royal Derby Hospital and Ripley Hospital.
The report stated that issues encountered by Mr Hay’s patients included women having hysterectomies who either did not want them, did not know they were having them or did not know alternative, less-invasive options were available.
It recommended that the investigation be expanded to between 2012 and 2015, focusing on major and intermediate gynaecology surgery cases.
The hospital trust has repeatedly provided its “unreserved apologies” to the women affected by Mr Hay, saying the care he provided “was far below the standards expected”.
Mr Hay stopped all clinical activity at the hospital trust in June 2018, with his colleagues raising concerns in late 2018, but did participate in “a small number of curriculum-based, classroom sessions” based at Royal Derby as late as February 2019.
He relinquished his medical licence in July 2021, meaning he was no longer able to practise medicine, having retired citing mental health concerns in July 2020.