The County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust will expand a lookback review of breast cancer care to include up to 4,500 additional cases, extending the review back to 2015. An initial review of cases from January 2023 to February 2025 found 321 patients experienced harm from 538 records examined, including one death. The trust apologised, pledged a proportionate, evidence-led review and will keep a helpline open while offering clinical support where appropriate.
NHS Trust Expands Breast Cancer Lookback To Up To 4,500 More Cases After Failings — Board Apologises
The trust has been reviewing breast cancer care at its hospitals and services in County Durham and Darlington [CDDFT]
Hospital leaders at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (CDDFT) have agreed to widen a formal review of their breast cancer services to include up to an additional 4,500 patient records, extending the review back to 2015. The decision follows findings of delayed diagnoses, unnecessary surgery and other failings identified in an initial lookback.
Key Findings From the Initial Review
The focused breast surgery lookback, launched in April 2025, examined cases dated from January 2023 to February 2025. Of 538 records reviewed so far, clinical reviewers judged that 321 patients experienced some degree of harm, including one death. About 640 people have also contacted a dedicated helpline requesting reviews of their care.
Trust Apology and Leadership Response
“I would like to offer a sincere apology to all the women and their families who have been affected by the failings in our breast services,”
— Alison Marshall, Chair, CDDFT
At an extraordinary board meeting in Durham, the trust’s chair and senior leaders offered apologies and pledged to be open, honest and transparent. Chief nurse Gill Hunt said concerns were first raised in 2015 after a service reconfiguration and the loss of breast surgical trainee posts, and that over several years regulators and patients flagged multiple issues.
Scope, Cost And Process
The first year of the review cost around £523,000 and involved nine clinical reviewers working through roughly 80 cases per month. The board voted to extend the review backwards one year at a time to 2015; if fully extended, the programme could cover up to 4,500 further cases and is estimated to take about five years to complete. Hunt said the expanded programme will follow a "proportionate and evidence-led clinical approach," with decisions supported by clear clinical rationale and formal governance.
Denise was one of the women who had an unnecessary mastectomy [BBC]
Support For Affected Patients
Chief executive Steve Russell acknowledged the distress caused and said the trust will support patients affected by the failings. That support may include clinical remediation where appropriate — for example, offering breast reconstruction to some women who underwent unnecessary mastectomies. The helpline — available by phone and email — will remain open and patients are encouraged to get in touch irrespective of when they were treated.
Voices Of Patients And Calls For Further Investigation
Several women have spoken publicly about their experiences. Denise Howarth, from Consett, told the board she had an unnecessary mastectomy and described feeling "mutilated." She and other campaigners have called for a public inquiry and urged the trust to consider looking further back than 2015; her own case dates to 2012.
Next Steps
The trust says it has made changes and that current breast services now exceed national standards for measures such as breast conservation rates and offers of immediate reconstruction. Still, the expanded lookback is intended to identify all patients harmed, provide clinical answers, learn lessons and improve governance and patient safety going forward.
Contact: The trust’s helpline remains open to anyone concerned about past breast cancer care at CDDFT.
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