Twelve 'harmed' in hospital's breast cancer errors

More patients have come forward following the review

A serious failure in breast cancer care at a hospital trust has led to 12 patients being harmed and triggered investigations into 60 more cases, a health board has heard.

The County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust previously apologised for distress caused to patients and their families after it said some women received "more extensive surgery than was clinically necessary at the time".

Following the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) review, 12 patients have been contacted to discuss failings of care which has led them to harm.

Dr Neil O'Brien, Chief Medical Officer for the region, said "immediate mitigations" were put in place as soon as alerts were raised.

"As soon as we knew, as soon as alerts were raised we put in immediate mitigations to keep people safe.

"We are committed to going back and looking at every single woman who may well have been affected by this and ensuring that any treatment inefficiencies are corrected," he told the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) annual meeting.

The 12 patients met a threshold of "duty of candour" which is where failings of care have led to harm, the RCS report said.

It revealed cancers that were missed, mastectomies that may not have been necessary, incidents of chemotherapy not being offered and surgery undertaken to remove lymph nodes when not clinically necessary.

The foundation trust says the cases it has identified so far were mainly at the University Hospital of North Durham

More than 200 cases have been been identified so far, but the trust said it could include thousands of cases dating back to 2019, mainly at the University Hospital of North Durham - with a number of patient deaths also being investigated.

A national clinical investigation team has been set up with experts from across the country, with the issue also being investigated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), and NHS England.

Health bosses said it was a "significant failure of patient care" while the trust said it was taking every concern raised "extremely seriously".

Sir Liam Donaldson, chair of the North East and North Cumbria ICB, said at a board meeting: "I think we shouldn't be in any doubt that this is a very serious failure in standards of care in a crucial area of service that has survival, life and death matters involved, so it does need to be looked at extremely carefully."

A further 95 patients have also come forward after a helpline was set up, the trust said.

'Sorry for distress'

The trust, which also operates Darlington Memorial Hospital, has contacted and apologised to the patients it has identified.

It previously said it had appointed two new consultant breast surgeons, invested in modern equipment and strengthened both its multidisciplinary team processes and clinical governance arrangements, following the review.

A spokesperson for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said: "We recognise this may be a worrying time for many of our patients and their families and we would like to reassure our communities that we are taking the review and every concern raised extremely seriously."

The trust also said some of the actions put in place to support the review had impacted service capacity and as a result, some patients were being offered the option to have their appointment at a neighbouring trust.

"We are sorry for any distress or inconvenience this is causing," it added.

"We are working very closely with local GPs and neighbouring NHS trusts, whose mutual support is both essential and very gratefully received during this time."

The helpline set up can be reached on 0191 333 2126 and patients can also email: [e-mail].