'I've lost faith in the NHS after testing error'

"Imagine taking 300 tablets a month that you don't even need," said Brett Durant

A patient says he has "lost total faith" in the NHS after taking prescribed medication he did not need for a year – and still does not know what is wrong with him.

Brett Durant, 50, from King's Lynn, Norfolk, was told his stomach pain was caused by the lack of an enzyme that digested food and was treated for that.

He was one of 84 people who had pancreatic function checks between July and December 2024 at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) but had to be retested after they were wrongly told their enzyme levels were too low.

Dr Bernard Brett, the hospital's medical director, apologised and said the hospital trust had addressed the "reliability of results".

Mr Durant suffered from stomach pain and bloating, and was told the pain was being caused by his pancreas not producing enough of the enzyme.

He was prescribed a supplement but said he was unable to move some mornings due to the pain.

"I kept telling the doctors and the dietitian that these tablets were increasing my bone pain... they just turned around to me and said, 'There is no alternative. You have to keep taking them.'"

But a year later, he received a letter telling him there was a problem with the results of some faecal elastase tests. After being retested, he found he had no problem.

Mr Durant, who said he was "angry" at the chain of events, is being treated for depression following the experience.

"[I have] lost total faith in the system," he said.

The lab carries out about 4,000 faecal elastase tests a year

The hospital trust told the affected patients analysis showing their enzyme readings were too low was wrong.

The letter said: "This error wasn't recognised for several months as the quality checks that are carried out on the tests did not identify an issue with the test."

The issue was spotted when doctors at the hospital queried the increased number of low results coming from the laboratory.

The hospital told the BBC the mistake occurred when the testing process was automated, and that it had since reverted to manual testing.

It said the vast majority of its other testing was automated, and that this usually improved the quality and reduced variability, "but not in this case".

And it said there had not been issues with other tests, only this single analysis.

Dr Brett, consultant gastroenterologist and NNUH medical director, said: "On behalf of the trust, I'd like to apologise to all patients affected by this testing error."

He said an issue with the test was identified following a move from one laboratory analyser to another.

"I would like to reassure the small number of patients affected that significant acute side effects are rare and the risk of long-term effects are even rarer from taking pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy," he said.

The trust has written to all the affected patients to explain what happened.

Earlier this year, the same trust revealed that more than 22,000 blood test results were affected by problems with a new IT system.