NHS trust prepared to review 4,500 breast cancer cases over more than a decade after failings

An NHS trust is prepared to review 4,500 breast cancer cases stretching more than a decade after admitting failings.

A review earlier this month found that hundreds of patients at the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust had come to harm during treatment in the breast unit at the trust.

Some 20 women were found to have undergone unnecessary mastectomies.

The trust apologised and is using specialists from other hospitals to review cases to see if other women underwent unnecessary operations or had otherwise poor care.

"The trust will complete the reviews already under way covering care between January 2023 and February 2025. It will then look back one year at a time, starting with patients treated in 2022 and working backwards towards 2015," it said in a statement.

After each year has been reviewed, the trust said the findings and learning will be "carefully considered" before a decision is made about moving into the next earlier year.

A total of 539 cases have been reviewed up to 2 September 2026. If the look-back goes back to 2015, around 4,500 cases will be reviewed.

Board papers suggested this could take five years - meaning women treated in 2015 could have their cases looked at in 2031.

The unanimous decision was made at an extraordinary public meeting on Thursday, where the trust board heard directly from women affected and considered patient and public views, independent clinical advice and the different options available.

Chief executive Steve Russell said: "We have heard again today about the profound and lasting impact that failings in our breast services have had on women and their families.

"We remain deeply sorry for the harm and distress caused, and for the times when, as a Trust, we should have listened more carefully, asked more questions and acted sooner."

Mr Russell said it had been a "difficult decision".

He added: "The board has carefully considered the different views we have heard, alongside the clinical evidence and independent advice available to us.

"We have heard from women who want us to look further back and who understandably want reassurance that others who may have been affected will be identified.

"We have also heard from women and families who have told us they would not have wanted concerns about their care brought back to them many years later, and that receiving this information has itself caused significant distress.

"All perspectives matter and we have listened carefully to them."

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Mr Russell acknowledged the review itself may bring "worry and distress".

Patients identified as having been affected will be contacted directly. However, patients will also be able to choose not to have their care reviewed if they do not wish to take part.

Some women who were not offered reconstructive surgery in the past will have that option now.

Mr Russell said: "Our support will remain available throughout and, where we identify concerns about someone's care, we will contact them directly and make sure they receive the information, clinical follow-up and support they need.

"We cannot change what happened, but we can continue to listen, support those affected and do everything we can to get this next stage right."

Members of the Pink Justice Network, an online support group for women who have had breast cancer treatment from the trust, attended the meeting.

Nadeen Lister, who runs the 150-strong group with Amelia Green, said she was "upset" by the scale of the review which could look at 4,500 cases.

She said: "I wasn't aware of that. I got quite emotional when I heard that. I thought, 'oh my god, how many more?'

"I do appreciate that some people might not want to know if they have come to any harm but I still think the trust need to review it and put those numbers on paper."

Jacqueline Holmes, who is Mrs Green's mother and whose daughter Michaela Holmes died aged 35 in 2009 after undergoing chemotherapy following a breast cancer diagnosis, called for a public inquiry instead of the trust reviewing cases.

She said: "It would be better if the government said they would hold a public inquiry. It would be better for the trust as well.

"It's all right for the trust to say they're going to do this and they're going to do that, but they have admitted this morning that they don't have enough staff to do what they're doing."

Gill Hunt, lead nurse for the trust, said they would recruit more specialists to review cases if possible.

(c) Sky News 2026: NHS trust prepared to review 4,500 breast cancer cases over more than a decade after failings