NHS trust found to have neglected cancer patient

Anne Lorraine Dyson's lung cancer diagnosis had been delayed (library image)

An NHS trust neglected a cancer patient by not diagnosing her condition quicker, contributing to her death, a coroner has concluded.

Anne Lorraine Dyson, 68, died at a hospice in Sunderland in February having been diagnosed with terminal metastatic lung cancer four months earlier.

South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust failed to identify her fatal condition sooner despite monitoring her condition for more than three years, a prevention of future deaths report said.

The trust said it had missed a "vital warning sign" and "this should not have happened and we apologise for this". An inquest into Mrs Dyson's death concluded she died of "natural causes contributed to by neglect".

Mrs Dyson had been under investigation for lung disease with the trust since 2021, while scans showed she had an increased growth in the organ from October 2023.

A CT scan was wrongly interpreted in March 2024 which meant diagnosis of a malignancy in her lung was delayed by many months, by which point it could no longer be successfully treated.

'Significantly delayed'

David Place, senior coroner for the City of Sunderland, said there was a risk of further deaths at the trust because there was "no consistent approach" for radiologists interpreting medical scans.

"The evidence indicated that radiologists are not provided with a list or a summary of a patient's symptoms or health complaints which resulted in the scan being commissioned, nor are they provided with details of any new or changed symptoms that have occurred during the investigative period," the coroner said.

"I am concerned that this has the potential to restrict the focus of the interpreter resulting in only limited aspects of the scan being interpreted.

"Potential diagnosis and treatment can then be significantly delayed, if something is missed."

Copies of the coroner's prevention of future deaths report were sent to the trust, Mrs Dyson's family and the Care Quality Commission.

Ben Hall, clinical director of diagnostic imaging at the trust, said: "We know from the review we have carried out that we missed a vital warning sign she had developed lung cancer."

Mr Place said: "I shall be glad to be told of any learning arising from this death and timescales and results of your review."