Report Highlights Screening Issues
The errors which saw a number of women wrongly given the all-clear for breast cancer must never be repeated again, confirms a lawyer who specialises in clinical negligence cases.
Lisa Jordan of Irwin Mitchell said the findings of an investigation, which revealed that a series of mistakes saw 16 women in North Cumbria who had cancer told they were not at risk, were a major cause for concern.
According to the Press Association, a report by Cumbria’s Director of Public Health, Professor John Ashton, has suggested that radiologists in the area should not be able to continue with such work until they have been given further training.
Commenting on the findings, medical negligence expert Lisa Jordan said: “Whilst I welcome the plans to introduce further training, it is very concerning that the issue has only been highlighted by such serious errors.
“Around 150,000 avoidable errors occur in the NHS every year, with victims and their families often enduring major trauma as a result of such mistakes.
“I hope that the health authorities in Cumbria take every possible step to ensure that mistakes like those highlighted in this publication never happen again.”