Twenty women had their breasts removed unnecessarily while being treated for cancer at an NHS trust in north-east England. The County Durham and Darlington foundation trust (CDDFT) told the BBC that the women were among hundreds of patients who came to harm during treatment at its breast unit. The admission came after the BBC reported last year that more than 200 patients were found to have suffered harm at the CDDFT.
The broadcaster reported that the National Crime Agency was working with Durham police to investigate allegations by former patients and determine if any criminal offences had taken place. Steve Russell, who was appointed chief executive of CDDFT last year, said: “We are deeply sorry to the women and families who have been harmed and let down by failings in our breast services. No final decision has been made and it would not be right to pre-empt the board’s discussion.
CDDFT is conducting an internal review of breast cancer cases between January 2023 and February 2025, as well as 640 former patients who contacted a special helpline. The BBC reported that of 514 cases reviewed by the trust so far, 315 patients have been found to have suffered harm, including 77 who were significantly harmed. One patient is known to have died.
Russell told the BBC that in some cases cancer was missed and then subsequently spread. One woman who had an unnecessary mastectomy, referred to as Jo, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme said: “They should have done further screening and biopsies, and that would have shown that all the other areas were were benign. And actually, there was very small cancer in a large breast. And actually, I didn’t need a mastectomy at all.” “I just was in total shock, sat at the top of the stairs with the dogs, thinking, have I really heard what I’ve just heard?
It was unbelievable, devastating,” she said. It just makes you not your whole self, really. To find out that that wasn’t necessary is absolutely horrendous.” Denise Howarth, 51, of Consett, County Durham, was diagnosed with stage one cancer in her left breast in February 2023.
She had a lumpectomy and lymph nodes removed, but at a follow-up review was told she still needed a mastectomy. Howarth, a mother-of-two being represented by Hudgell Solicitors, underwent the mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiology treatment. In September last year, she was contacted by CDDFT and told the mastectomy had not been needed.
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