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Hospital leaders in County Durham have decided to conduct an expanded review of up to 4,500 additional breast cancer cases following the discovery of significant failures in patient care. These issues, which include delays in diagnosis and unnecessary surgical procedures, emerged during an initial investigation covering cases from early 2023.
A thorough examination revealed that hundreds of patients under the care of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust experienced harm as a result of these shortcomings. The BBC interviewed several women affected by the trust’s mistakes, including one patient who described feeling “mutilated” and called the errors “absolutely unforgivable.”
Prior to agreeing to broaden the review to include cases going back as far as 2015, board members of the trust expressed their deep regret and offered heartfelt apologies for the suffering caused. At an extraordinary meeting held in Durham, board chair Alison Marshall addressed those impacted directly, stating: “I would like to offer a sincere apology to all the women and their families who have been affected by the failings in our breast services. I can’t imagine the impact that has had.” She also emphasized the trust’s commitment to transparency, admitting they could not undo past errors but vowed to be open and honest about them.
Chief nurse Gill Hunt outlined the timeline of concerns, noting that issues began to surface in 2015 following a reorganization of services and the loss of breast surgical trainee positions. Over subsequent years, various stakeholders, including the Northern Cancer Alliance, the Care Quality Commission, and NHS England, raised multiple concerns. The main problems identified included treatments that did not meet best practice standards, excessive surgical interventions, and delays in diagnosing patients. Since April 2025, the trust has been conducting a breast surgery lookback review, initially focusing on cases from January 2023 to February 2025. Out of 538 cases examined so far, 321 were found to have experienced some form of harm, including one patient death
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