Death of Derby Doctor Daniel Hay leads to investigations being dropped leaving victims feeling “failed and disheartened”

Dr Daniel Hay, a former University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust obstetrician and gynaecologist. Image from Daniel Hay.

The police have dropped all investigations into former Derby doctor Daniel Hay following his death, leaving his victims “failed and disheartened”.

Former Derby doctor Daniel Hay, aged 61, from near Alfreton, died in April in the midst of criminal and NHS investigations into harm caused to hundreds of women over nearly 20 years.

In January, the police had dropped six out of 36 cases involving Mr Hay, citing a lack of evidence sufficient for prosecution.

It has now been confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service that all criminal investigations into Mr Hay have been dropped.

Police have been running a criminal investigation into Mr Hay for more than three years, since September 2022, with an NHS investigation finally published in September 2025, three years after it was finalised.

A police spokesperson said: “Due to Daniel Hay’s death the criminal investigation into the alleged offences against him has ceased.

“Six victims had already been written to earlier this year to update them that, following a review of the evidence, that the evidence did not meet the evidential threshold for criminal charges.”

The spokesperson confirmed that since then two women had contacted the force expressing that they were not seeking any further action.

They continued: “Following his death a further 28 victims have been written to, to explain the next steps that they can choose.

“The first option would be for their case to be reviewed against a decision-making framework that would give the women an indication of, had Daniel Hay not died, how their case may have progressed criminally.

“The review would be undertaken by a police officer – and would not be a medical opinion – it would not lead to the case being referred to the Crown Prosecution Service and would not be a finding of wrongdoing or a formal judgment about past care.

“Should the victim not wish to have the review take place then the second option would be for no further enquiries to take place.

“As a force we understand the significant impact on those involved and, while not required, we feel it important to help those who have come forward to understand the evidence that has been gathered and what, criminally, this would mean.”

Hannah Green, 36, from Littleover, who had laparoscopies performed by Mr Hay in 2016 and 2017 without her consent, said this offered “false hope”.

She said she had already filed for a review of her case when it was among the first six dropped in January, which is still ongoing.

Ms Green said: “Part of my frustration is that everyone else will just get to move on with everything, with no further action because he is dead.

“We are stuck with false hope, but I am not very hopeful.

“Daniel Hay has died and escaped the consequences of his actions. We have to live with the trauma and the injuries that he caused and we will carry that for the rest of our lives regardless, and that has been ignored.

“It is now going to be swept under the rug.

“It is 10 years now since my surgery and we have not learned anything and myself and all the other women have had to suffer through it all. It is very disheartening.

“We will live with this forever. We can do all the therapy and try all our lives to get over it but we can’t and there are no options left for us anymore.

“It is a shame all of this was not used as an opportunity to improve things for women. We have been systematically failed.”

Pauline Hill, who was treated by Mr Hay in 2001 at Chesterfield Royal Hospital, said: “There has been a massive injustice done to all the women involved.

“Women who should be seen as the victims in all of this. Surely this can’t be the end of the road for us?

“Whilst yes, I agree you can’t trial a dead man, why should his reputation not be destroyed as we that were victims have been destroyed?

“Women and girls get a bad deal in all of this. Hardly the justice for women that the Government say they are promoting.”

Just as in the wake of Mr Hay’s death in hospital from natural causes in April, his victims have repeated their calls for investigations into his practice and how he was permitted to practice to be widened in terms of scope and time, including colleagues and the organisations he worked at.

The police said their investigation had no time limit, but the NHS investigation which found  “major” concerns of harm to 48 women and “some” concerns of harm to 68 women out of 383 cases had been limited from 2015 to 2018.

A further expansion of this from 2012 to 2015 is currently underway and started last autumn.

Numerous patients who have spoken to the LDRS were operated on by Mr Hay in the early 2000s, including in Nottinghamshire and Chesterfield.

An NHS investigation found Mr Hay had a “surgery first” approach and often did not brief women on options short of surgery and with consent lacking in many of his cases, with poor or non-existent notes to support his work.

Heartbroken women speaking to the LDRS have detailed how they did not know what operations were performed on them, with some having hysterectomies without consent when they still had hopes of starting or extending their families.

Mr Hay worked across the “mid-Trent” area from 1996 to 2001 at Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital in Nottingham, King’s Mill Hospital in Mansfield, what was Derby City General Hospital and Chesterfield Royal Hospital.

From 2001 to 2005, he worked at Chesterfield Royal and from 2006 until 2020 at Royal Derby Hospital, along with teaching roles at the University of Nottingham and Sheffield Medical School.