Shocking NHS cancer errors

A shocking catalogue of incompetence led to 11 women developing cancer after being told they had no symptoms, it is revealed today.

Despite doctors making the correct diagnosis, patients were not warned because administrative chaos led to case notes being mixed up or reports "put on the wrong pile".

The findings emerged today after a government investigation into failings at the West London Breast Screening Service. When the problems were first uncovered the treatment of more than 100,000 women was double-checked.

The investigation will lead to a major shake-up of the way breast cancer screening is organised throughout the country after the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI), concluded that the service, based at Charing Cross Hospital, Hammersmith, suffered "institutional failings".

The errors only came to light when one woman moved to a different health authority area and doctors found a note on her file indicating she should have been recalled for further assessment.

Instead, she had been sent a routine letter informing her she would not need further screening for another three years.

This first patient did not develop cancer, but a trawl of another 104,000 files, dating back to 1993, uncovered a total of 11 women who were wrongly given the allclear.

Six had become so ill that they were already being treated when the mistakes were discovered.

The five victims whose cancer had still not been treated were offered immediate treatment.

One women was left untreated for two years after her notes were incorrectly filed.

An internal report by Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the service, found that mammogram films were missing from the files of a further 77 women, who were all recalled for new tests.

Routine screening at the centre, which is one of the biggest in the country, was suspended following the blunder, but has now resumed.

Mike Stone, chief executive of the Patients' Association, said: "CHI is highlighting the inefficiencies in one particular service and we have to make sure the right lessons are learned. We have to make sure this doesn't happen again elsewhere."

It is likely that a large compensation case against the West London Breast Screening Service could follow today's CHI findings-CHI cannot sack incompetent management teams but reports serious findings, along with recommendations, to the Health Secretary and the relevant hospital trust. The centre screens 40,000 women a year.