CONCERNS were raised about Barnsley hospital's breast reconstruction surgeon months before she was suspended, the Chronicle can reveal.

Purvaneswary Markandoo was ordered to stop work three weeks ago amid worries about her professional conduct, but patient Sheila Jeffrey says doubts about the consultant's work date back to at least January.

Sheila, 50, has endured two failed reconstruction operations carried out by the doctor and says she was given incorrect information about one of the after-surgery complications she is suffering from.

The Cudworth grandmother, who is battling breast cancer, went into hospital in December to have her breast removed and an implant inserted.

Weeks later the breast went black and infected fluid poured out of a hole the size of a golf ball in her chest.

Despite the problem Sheila says Ms Markandoo urged her to have a second implant at the same time as the infected implant was removed. Complications set in just weeks after the second implant was put in.

But Sheila only discovered other women had suffered similar problems when she read in the Chronicle that Ms Markandoo had been suspended.

It was only then she learned the true extent of her own plight, including the fact that a large painful lump under her breast is not fat, as Ms Markandoo had told her, but decomposing muscle.

Sheila now needs urgent surgery which can only be carried out by specialists outside Barnsley.

Worried patients can call a special hospital helpline on 0800 023 4782.