DURHAM, September 26 — The board of County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust has agreed to widen its breast surgery lookback review to cases dating back to 2015, a decision that could bring thousands of additional breast cancer cases under scrutiny and is expected to take about five years to complete. The move, taken at an extraordinary meeting held in Durham, followed a review of cases dating back to 2023 that found hundreds of patients suffered harm, including delayed diagnoses and unnecessary surgeries.
The trust’s breast surgery lookback review began in April 2025 by examining cases between January 2023 and February 2025.
What the review has found so far
Chief nurse Gill Hunt told the board that 538 cases had been reviewed so far, with 321 having experienced some form of harm, including one death. About 640 patients had contacted a special helpline asking for their cases to be reviewed. The review cost about £523,000 (about US$660,000) in its first year and involved nine reviewers looking at about 80 cases a month.
Board chair Alison Marshall offered a “sincere apology to all the women and their families who have been affected by the failings in our breast services,” adding: “I can’t imagine the impact that has had.” She said the trust could “not turn back the clock” but would be “open, honest and transparent” about the failings.
Hunt said concerns were first raised in 2015 after a “service reconfiguration” and loss of breast surgical trainee posts, and that over the following years patients and bodies including the Northern Cancer Alliance, the Care Quality Commission and NHS England raised multiple issues. Key themes included treatment “not aligned to best practice”, excessive surgery and delayed diagnosis.
Expansion and the trust’s response
Hunt said the expanded review would “provide a proportionate and evidence-led clinical approach” in response to “emerging findings”, with decisions “supported by clear clinical rationale and formal governance review”. Chief executive Steve Russell said the trust was “incredibly conscious women and their families” had experienced “distress, uncertainty and harm”, and that no apology could undo that. He said some women who had undergone unnecessary mastectomies could be offered breast reconstruction surgery as they previously should have been.
He also said the trust was currently exceeding national standards for breast cancer treatment, including for the number of women having breast conservation surgeries and being offered immediate reconstruction, adding: “None of that changes what has happened to women in the past but hopefully gives confidence the changes made in the service have had an impact on the outcomes.” The helpline, available by phone or email, would remain open, with concerned patients encouraged to contact it “irrespective” of when they were treated.
Patients call for wider inquiry
Denise Howarth, 51, from Consett, County Durham, who had an unnecessary mastectomy, attended the board meeting and said she was “pleased” the review would be extended, but that past patients needed to be contacted with “dignity” and “compassion”. She called for a public inquiry and, as her case dated back to 2012, said the review should look back further than 2015. Rachel Gray, 41, from Sunderland, contacted the helpline after hearing of women “being harmed”; the review found she could have avoided having a mastectomy at the age of 37.
She said discovering that made her “want to crawl out of my skin”, and that she thought the review would find more women harmed “than what they are predicting”. The BBC previously investigated the failings and spoke to multiple women affected, including one who said she felt “mutilated” and the trust’s mistakes were “absolutely unforgivable”.
A BBC documentary, “Breast Cancer Scandal: Exposing the Harm”, presented by BBC health correspondent Sharon Barbour, is available on BBC iPlayer. Medical negligence solicitor Chloe Gibs was also referenced in the source material. For now, the trust faces a review expected to stretch across five years, with the helpline remaining open and patients urged to come forward regardless of when they were treated.
The encouraging part, as Russell indicated, is that current standards for breast conservation and immediate reconstruction are being met — but the past, as he acknowledged, cannot be undone. Women with concerns about their own breast cancer care should talk to their doctor or contact the trust’s helpline. Consult your doctor for medical advice.
