County Durham man calls for full body CT scan for breast cancer patients
A free legal clinic is being held today in Durham for anyone with concerns
A County Durham man is calling for there to be a full body CT scan for women with breast cancer.
David Dinsdale says he believes that if his wife received the correct breast cancer care and support - she would still be here today.
He lost his wife Jayne back in April due to the failings of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust and its breast cancer service.
Jayne's breast cancer had turned into metastatic breast cancer.
David said: "Up until October last year everything was going OK and I started noticing difference in her health and what she was doing, forgetfulness, leaving cookers on and taps on. We went to see the consultant in October and voiced my concerns about it all but from there, they just fobbed us off basically.
"They shouldn't scan from the neck down, they should do a full body scan and I believe that these issues would have been picked up a long time before, even miniscule growth in the brain, I believe it would've been picked up a long time before we got to hospital and was told she had three brain tumours.
"I came out of the hospital and I was absolutely raging because I knew there was something wrong. Obviously I lived with it a lot of years and she was never like that, you just see the downhill road; forgetfulness, sitting staring into space, looking straight through and I just knew something was wrong.
"Things deteriorated and four days later, I had enough basically so I took her to hospital, took her into A&E and we were in there for 16 hours I think it was. Eventually we got a CT scan and the results weren't good, they found three tumours in her brain.
"When she passed away, I didn't know what to do because I hadn't been in the situation before because Jayne had always dealt with bills and stuff like that, and just the fact that she wasn't there anymore, it's hard to explain.
"If she had a full body CT scan, three months before, six months before, I'm 99 percent sure she'd still be here. Definitely."
Kathryn Burn, Executive Director of Nursing at the Trust said: “We are deeply sorry for the distress caused by failings in the Trust’s breast services and the impact this has had on patients and their families.
“A full review is underway and we are contacting patients directly if they have been affected. If you are worried and have not heard from us, please call our dedicated helpline on 0191 3332126 or email: [email protected]
“We have made improvements to strengthen our services and more continues to be done. We are committed to learning from this and making sure patients receive the safe, high-quality care they deserve.”
Free legal clinic in Durham city centre
Women who have concerns over the breast cancer care they received can get free advice at a legal clinic today.
An investigation is underway into breast cancer care delivered by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, which includes breast cancer care failing cases dating back to 2019.
Law firm Slater and Gordon say these include allegations of cancers being missed, mastectomies and other surgeries that may not have been necessary, and chemotherapy not being offered. A number of patient deaths are also being investigated.
They added while at least 200 patients who have received treatment at the University Hospital of North Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital are thought to be affected – with at least 12 women so far found to have suffered harm – the investigation is ongoing and could potentially include thousands of women.
In response to a surge of enquiries from women across County Durham, Slater and Gordon say they're holding a free legal clinic, where anyone with concerns about the care they or a loved one received can drop in and learn more about their rights and how to find the answers they need.
The clinic will be held at Alington House Community Association, North Bailey, Durham, DH1 3ET, near to Durham Cathedral. A team of specialists from Slater and Gordon’s North East office will be on-hand to give advice and guidance from 10am to 3pm.
Chloe Gibson, a specialist medical negligence solicitor at Slater and Gordon, who will be at the legal clinic, said: “We have received many enquiries from women who have real concerns over the care they received at these hospitals, at a particularly devastating time in their lives when they had been diagnosed with cancer.
“Some of the cases are genuinely shocking, and we commend the bravery of these women who are coming to us. Clearly their ordeals have had a huge and devastating impact on their lives, and we will support them in every way possible in helping them find the answers they deserve.
“We would urge anyone with concerns over the care they received to come and speak to us. Our team will be on-hand to help, and we can help to clarify the legal position and what next steps can be. These women have been through enough, and we will do everything we can to help them understand exactly what went wrong in their care.”