Porsche McGregor-Sims felt ignored before cancer death, family say

Porsche McGregor-Sims saw a locum gynaecologist at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in early 2020

A woman felt she was not listened to after her cervical cancer was missed by a doctor less than three months before she died, her family has said.

Porsche McGregor-Sims, 27, was referred to the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth in December 2019 after suffering abdominal pain and bleeding.

An inquest in Portsmouth heard she saw a locum gynaecologist, who believed her symptoms did not suggest cancer.

She died on 14 April 2020. The coroner recorded a narrative conclusion.

Ms McGregor-Sims, an events manager who lived in Portsmouth, died in hospital after her cancer spread towards her lungs, causing breathing problems and a fatal heart attack.

She was seen on 24 January 2020 by locum gynaecologist Dr Peter Schlesinger, who decided a physical examination was not required, the coroner was told.

Dr Schlesinger said he made this decision because he believed her pain was likely down to hormonal contraception and endometriosis or irritable bowel syndrome.

However, other doctors told the inquest Ms McGregor-Sims should have been properly examined on that date, and if her cancer had been diagnosed then she may have lived for several more months.

Coroner Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp said that the early diagnosis would not have changed the outcome for Ms McGregor-Sims, but she and her family would have been saved the "shock and trauma" of finding out about her cancer just before she died.

Ms Rhodes-Kemp said that a mass of 5.3cm was only detected on 6 April following a CT scan, and another scan on 9 April found the cancer was "widespread and inoperable".

In a statement read to the court, her family said it was "very out of character" for Ms McGregor-Sims to complain - but she felt she was "not listened to".

"None of us, including Porsche, thought that she would not make it out of hospital on 13 April," the family added.

"There's no way we could have prepared for it."