Blunders by GPs, hospital doctors and nurses jeopardised the health of thousands of patients when cancer was misdiagnosed or not spotted soon enough, according to an NHS report.
Over a period of a year, doctors failed to spot key signs of cancer, tissue samples were mixed up, some patients were wrongly given an all-clear and vital diagnostic tests were delayed because of staff and equipment shortages, the study, undertaken by the NHS’s National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA), found.
Delayed diagnosis of cancer can lead to a patient dying earlier than expected or needing more invasive treatment than would have been necessary.
The NPSA’s Delayed diagnosis of cancer: thematic review details failures by NHS staff, including pathologists and administration staff, in 1,650 incidents reported by healthcare professionals in 2007-08 which involved a cancer sufferer getting a late diagnosis. The NPSA said the 1,650 figure was “an underestimate” but could not say by how much.
When 508 cases were examined in detail, it was found that 177 patients were harmed. Two died, 25 suffered severe harm, 52 moderate harm and 88 low harm. Of a sample of 150 patients, 37% experienced delays of up to three months, 38% of more than three months and some had delays of three years.
The government estimates that 10,000 die each year because of late diagnosis of cancer. The UK is poor by international standards at diagnosing cancer, studies have shown.
Read more at The Guardian.
Tags: Cancer
