“I was just in shock, then ended up in tears on the phone.” Denise Howarth, 51, from Consett, County Durham, had just been told by the NHS that her breast need not have been removed.
She is one of 20 women who had mastectomies they did not need while being treated for breast cancer at the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, the trust has told the BBC. They were among hundreds of patients harmed in its breast unit. Steve Russell, the trust’s recently installed chief executive, apologised “unreservedly.” “There are no words I could use to convey how personally distressed I am,” he said. “What happened was utterly unacceptable.”
The scale of the review
The trust is reviewing breast cancer cases from January 2023 to February 2025, along with those of 640 former patients who rang a dedicated helpline. Of 514 cases examined so far, 315 patients were found to have suffered harm, 77 of them significantly. One patient is known to have died. In some cases a cancer diagnosis was missed or delayed, and some of those patients saw their cancer spread.
Russell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the trust would meet within the week to decide whether to widen the review to as many as 10,000 cases going back to 2015. It has taken advice from patients’ groups, clinical experts and lawyers, he said, and must take “a really balanced view.” The decision will be made public. The National Crime Agency is working with Durham Police to establish whether any criminal offences took place.
What patients describe
Dozens of women and families contacted the BBC after it first reported concerns about the unit: a high number of mastectomies compared with other trusts, operations done “too quickly,” and some treatment outsourced to private clinics run by the trust’s breast cancer clinical lead. One independent expert said that arrangement created “a clear conflict of interest.”
Howarth was diagnosed with slow-growing grade 1 cancer in 2023 after finding a lump. She had a lumpectomy, then a mastectomy, plus eight rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The NHS called her in September 2025, and a letter from the trust followed. It said she could have been offered a second lumpectomy instead of full removal, and admitted nobody had raised the option with her. The apology, she says, is “all good and well” but will not bring her breast back.
Jo, not her real name, called the helpline about a mastectomy she had in 2021. A former NHS worker, she was told on the phone earlier this year that it could have been avoided. She had trusted people she saw as colleagues. “You go to work to do your best, don’t you?” she said. She now feels “mutilated” and calls the trust’s mistakes “absolutely unforgivable.”
At Beamish Football Centre in Stanley, women affected by the unit meet to share their stories. Lynn, one of the organisers, had surgery in 2016. “I’ve felt terrible ever since,” she said. The trust has told her too that her breast removal was unnecessary. Some members have had formal apologies, but all want to know who was responsible. The group is calling for a public inquiry.
The consultant and the money
Amir Bhatti oversaw the care of Howarth and Jo. He was the trust’s clinical lead for breast services from 2013 to 2024, and is now suspended from clinical practice but still employed on full pay. The BBC reported last year that the trust paid nearly 6 million pounds over six years to breast cancer diagnostic clinics and surgery companies run privately by Bhatti. A review by governance specialist Mary Aubrey found that outsourcing appointments created financial incentives that were potentially “a risk to clinical standards.”
Russell says payment per service is not uncommon in healthcare, but the trust has ended the arrangement for breast cancer. “We recognise there was a conflict of interest that wasn’t managed properly,” he said. Asked for comment, Bhatti said it would be inappropriate to discuss the matter while the trust investigation continues.
Anyone worried about their own breast cancer care should talk to their clinical team, and anyone who notices a change in a breast should see their doctor without delay. Consult your doctor for medical advice.
Sources
- Twenty women had breasts removed unnecessarily, NHS trust admits
- Twenty women had breasts removed unnecessarily, NHS trust admits
