DURHAM, September 20 — Twenty women underwent mastectomies they did not need while being treated for breast cancer at the breast unit of the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, the trust has told the BBC. The admission follows earlier revelations about serious failures in the unit, and it forms part of a wider picture in which hundreds of patients came to harm during treatment there. Steve Russell, who has recently taken over as the trust’s chief executive, said he apologises “unreservedly” for the harm the trust caused.
“There are no words I could use to convey how personally distressed I am,” he said. “What happened was utterly unacceptable.” The trust is carrying out an internal review of breast cancer cases between January 2023 and February 2025, alongside the cases of hundreds of former patients who contacted a dedicated helpline.
Of the cases reviewed so far, patients have been found to have suffered harm, including a group who were significantly harmed. The trust says cases have also been identified where cancer diagnoses were missed or delayed, and some of these patients subsequently saw their cancer spread. Russell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the trust will meet in the coming week to decide whether to extend the scope of the review and look at thousands more cases dating back as far as 2015.
He said the trust has been taking advice from patients’ groups, clinical experts and legal representatives and will have to take “a really balanced view”. Any decision will be made public.
What patients were told
Dozens of affected women and their families contacted the BBC after it reported concerns about serious failings at the trust’s breast cancer unit. Those concerns included a high number of mastectomies compared with other NHS trusts, operations carried out “too quickly”, and the outsourcing of some treatment to private clinics run by the trust’s breast cancer clinical lead — an arrangement one independent expert said created “a clear conflict of interest”.
Patients described the shock of being told a mastectomy, the removal of all or part of a breast, could have been avoided, as well as the psychological and physical pain many still live with. Former patients have come together to support each other and call for a public inquiry.
Denise Howarth, 51, from Consett, County Durham, is one of several women told by the NHS that her breast was removed unnecessarily. Diagnosed with grade 1, slow-growing cancer in 2023 after discovering a lump, she initially underwent a lumpectomy, then a mastectomy, as well as eight rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
The call she received from the NHS in September 2025 was quickly followed by a letter from the trust saying she could have been offered a second lumpectomy rather than full breast removal, but acknowledging the option had never been discussed with her. She says the apology was “all good and well” but will not bring her breast back.
Jo, not her real name, contacted the trust’s helpline about a mastectomy she had undergone in 2021 and says she was told in a phone call earlier this year that the procedure could have been avoided. The former NHS worker says she feels “mutilated” by what happened and that the mistakes made by the trust were “absolutely unforgivable”.
The consultant and the payments
The consultant overseeing Jo and Denise’s care was Mr Amir Bhatti, who was the trust’s clinical lead for breast services from 2013 to 2024. He has now been suspended from carrying out clinical practice but is still employed by the trust on full pay. Last year, the BBC reported that nearly £6m (about US$7.6m) had been paid by the trust over six years to breast cancer diagnostic clinics and surgery companies run privately by Bhatti.
Concern about this arrangement was raised in a 2025 review into the running of the trust, carried out by governance specialist Mary Aubrey, who said outsourcing patient appointments had created financial incentives potentially “a risk to clinical standards”. Russell argues payment per service is not uncommon in healthcare, although he says the trust has now ended this arrangement for breast cancer services.
“We recognise there was a conflict of interes[t],” he said. The National Crime Agency says it is now working with Durham Police to investigate allegations by former patients and determine if any criminal offences have taken place. BBC health correspondent Sharon Barbour investigates the deepening scandal in the documentary Breast Cancer Scandal: Exposing The Harm, available on BBC iPlayer and on BBC NE & Cumbria at 19:30 on Friday 18 October.
The encouraging part of this difficult story is that the failures are now being examined openly, that affected women have found strength in supporting one another, and that the trust says it will publish its decision on widening the review. Patients with concerns about their own breast cancer care should speak to their clinical team, and anyone worried about a breast change should talk to their doctor without delay. Consult your doctor for medical advice.
