Specialists missed breast cancer red flag two years before an Ayrshire woman was diagnosed

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Cancer specialists at Crosshouse Hospital failed to spot an ‘abnormality’ in a woman’s breast scan that developed into stage three cancer two years later.Rosemary Agnew, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), upheld a complaint against the NHS Ayrshire and Arran Board.She ruled that health staff should have identified ‘calcification’ that was apparent in a scan taken in 2019 and would have enabled an early diagnosis of breast cancer.The Ombudsman also took the board to task over their initial claim that they had spotted the issue in 2019 but had decided it did not merit further investigation.The patient, identified as ‘C’ in the SPSO report, had a family history of breast cancer and had been referred to the high risk/family history service at Crosshouse Hospital for monitoring.

There she had regular mammogram scans for potential early signs of breast cancer.When one scan of an abnormality was identified in the woman’s left breast in 2019, it was investigated.

The symptoms turned out to be a cyst. A scan of C’s right breast taken at the same time was reported as ‘normal’.However, two years later it was revealed that the scan of her right breast had in fact shown an abnormality.NHS Ayrshire and Arran said that mammogram scans are reviewed by two consultant radiologists or consultant radiographers who report independently to ensure there are two clinical opinions.They claimed said that the abnormality had been spotted and decided that it was not ‘sinister’ enough to merit a biopsy.

An expert adviser to the Ombudsman said that there was no evidence of the abnormality or any discussions in the patient’s medical records.The Ombudsman’s report said that the Board subsequently stated that they were talking about 2021