Portsmouth X-ray check mistakes 'within error rate'

Inspectors also found a backlog of 23,000 X-rays at Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital

Mistakes in checking X-rays of two hospital patients who later died were within an "accepted error rate", an inquiry has found.

The patients in Portsmouth died after junior doctors failed to spot lung cancers, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) reported in December.

It said X-rays should be seen by "properly-trained clinical staff".

A report to the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust board said junior doctors caused no increased "levels of harm".

'Missed cancers'

The trust said it had completed a review of 30,221 chest, abdominal and spinal X-rays from March 2016 onwards, following the CQC's concerns.

Twenty-seven "potential missed cancers" were identified but most patients were not harmed by any delayed diagnosis, according to the report.

Three patients suffered "severe harm" and two had died, it said.

Hospital X-rays were not routinely checked by radiologists because of a "backlog" of work

A separate report for the trust, by consultancy firm Verita, said the hospital's radiology department "de-prioritised" expert reviews of X-rays after deciding the risk to patients was small.

It said by 2011 the Portsmouth trust was not having X-rays routinely checked by a radiologist, because of a "backlog" of work.

"It appears that clinicians within radiology had, in effect, assessed the risks of not reporting... and concluded that this risk was sufficiently small to allow a de-prioritisation of this activity," the report said.

'Good judgement'

"Executives were, however, fully aware of the non-compliance with policy, but were not directive in their response."

The report said the non-compliance was "justifiable" because junior doctors had performed within the "accepted error rate of a qualified radiologist".

It concluded: "The radiology department actually exercised good clinical judgement in how they utilised their resources."

Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust said previously it had made an unreserved apology to the three patients' families.

The trust said it had spent nearly £200,000 on extra X-ray reviews and was employing two new radiographers.