Key facts
- County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust will review up to 4,500 additional breast cancer cases.
- The review will now encompass cases dating back to 2015.
- Failings identified include delayed diagnoses and unnecessary surgeries.
- Hundreds of patients reportedly suffered harm, with one death linked to the issues.
- The trust's breast surgery lookback review began in April 2025, examining cases from January 2023 to February 2025.
- The expanded review is estimated to take five years to complete.
Hospital chiefs at the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust have agreed to review up to an additional 4,500 breast cancer cases following the discovery of significant failings. These issues include delayed diagnoses and unnecessary surgeries, which have reportedly caused harm to hundreds of patients, with one death linked to the substandard care.
The trust's board has extended its ongoing breast surgery lookback review to encompass cases dating back to 2015. This expansion follows initial findings from a review that began in April 2025, examining cases between January 2023 and February 2025. Of the 538 cases reviewed in this initial phase, 321 experienced some form of harm.
Concerns about the breast services were first raised in 2015 after a service reconfiguration and the loss of breast surgical trainee posts. Over subsequent years, patients, the Northern Cancer Alliance, the Care Quality Commission, and NHS England highlighted issues such as treatment not aligning with best practices, excessive surgery, and delayed diagnoses. Approximately 640 patients have also contacted a dedicated helpline seeking a review of their cases.
Board chair Alison Marshall offered a "sincere apology" to affected women and their families, acknowledging that while the past cannot be changed, the trust would be "open, honest and transparent" about the failings. Chief executive Steve Russell expressed the trust's consciousness of the "distress, uncertainty and harm" experienced by patients and stated that the trust would support affected women, including offering breast reconstruction surgery to those who underwent unnecessary mastectomies. He also assured current patients that the service now exceeds national standards for breast cancer treatment.