Hospital review to consider breast cancer care of 4,500 women

Nadeen Lister. Credit: PA/Tom Wilkinson

By Tom Wilkinson, PA Media

Hospital bosses have committed to reviewing the breast cancer care received by about 4,500 women after severe failings were found in services.

Members of a support group attended an extraordinary public meeting held by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust where the board decided the scope of its look-back exercise.

It has already established that hundreds of patients have come to harm during treatment in the breast unit, with 20 women having been found to have undergone unnecessary mastectomies.

Trust officials agreed that the review will continue looking back in the period between January 2023 and February 2025.

The focus will then move to 2022 and work backwards to 2015, with findings and learning assessed for each year before a decision is made about continuing into the previous year.

After the meeting, trust chief executive Steve Russell said: “We have heard again today about the profound and lasting impact that failings in our breast services have had on women and their families.