Wakefield residents receiving cancer diagnoses by phone, meeting hears

One patient was diagnosed with lung cancer and told over the phone he had 12 months to live

People with lung cancer and other serious conditions are still receiving diagnoses over the phone, as opposed to face-to-face, a meeting has heard.

Wakefield Council's health scrutiny committee was told an NHS patient who was told in a call that he had a year to live had since received an apology.

Another patient heard by phone that she had lung cancer and one woman was misdiagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

Health bosses said they were offering face-to-face appointments where needed.

Speaking at the meeting, Labour councillor Charlie Keith said people had come forward to tell their stories after he had raised the issue of the man being given the terminal diagnosis in a phone call.

"It's not just GPs - this is clearly happening at consultant level as well," he added.

'Radically wrong'

Committee chair Betty Rhodes said the levels of care being offered at GP surgeries across the district was unbalanced.

"We're not saying there aren't good practices, but we're saying what is on offer should be the same everywhere across the district."

She told the meeting she knew of one woman who was misdiagnosed with Parkinson's disease over the phone and another who had a call to say she had lung cancer.

"To have people at the other end of the phone being told they have lung cancer, I think there's something radically wrong with the system," she said.

GP practices have been told they must make sure patients can be seen face to face when they need such appointments.

However, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the meeting was told a shortage of doctors was contributing to the problem.

Mel Brown, from Wakefield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which oversees local NHS surgeries, added: "I don't want anyone to go away thinking that staff aren't working hard.

"They've never been as busy as they are now. They've never worked so hard."