Specialist medical negligence solicitors from Switalskis who are supporting clients who have suffered avoidable harm after breast cancer treatment at hospitals in County Durham have expressed ‘deep concern’ over reports that the Trust concerned is now to review the care of a further 4,500 women.

Our experts’ comments came as one patient being supported by Switalskis’ expert breast cancer negligence solicitors described the ongoing developments at the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust as ‘devastating beyond words’.

Her remarks followed BBC reports that the Trust had agreed to extend its existing review of breast cancer care as far back as 2015, when concerns were first raised about patient safety amid fears over delayed diagnoses and unnecessary surgeries.

The extension of the review means that the care of as many as 4,500 patients at the Trust’s hospitals, including The University Hospital of North Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital, will now be considered, with the review looking at each year in turn.

What do we know so far?

The review of breast cancer surgery at the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust began in April 2025, with cases between January 2023 and February 2025 being examined.

It’s believed that the review revealed that hundreds of patients had suffered harm while being treated, prompting the Trust now to extend its review further. Figures reported by the BBC suggested that 321 of the 538 cases reviewed to date had revealed some evidence of harm.

The extended review of up to 4,500 patients treated in Durham and Darlington could take as long as five years, with the Trust examining each year in turn.

The news follows previous findings in 2025 that 20 women underwent unnecessary mastectomies at the Trust’s hospitals , prompting concern from patients who had been treated The University Hospital of North Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital and from our expert clinical negligence solicitors, some of whom have subsequently contacted our team for help.

‘Devastating beyond words’: a patient’s view

The latest developments will be difficult to process for any patients who were treated for breast cancer at the Trust’s hospitals during the years covered by the year, including one woman who underwent a mastectomy and is now being supported by our medical negligence team.

The woman, who has asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of her treatment, recalled the moment she received her devastating diagnosis and was told that only a mastectomy would give her the best chance of surviving,

She said: “Our lives were turned upside down the moment we heard, “you have cancer”.  

“But we were immediately thrown a lifeline when they told me I needed an urgent mastectomy. In that moment, hope and gratitude returned to our lives. Without hesitation, I agreed to the mastectomy.

“The impact of this surgery changed me as a woman forever but I was focused on the chance to live and rebuild life for myself and my family.”

However, she said the subsequent news of the initial review and now a wider review has left her reeling and struggling to coming to terms with the news.

“To be informed that there was another option that had not been offered to me has been devastating beyond words. I am still trying to process it and to try and make sense of the senseless.

“Our next challenge, is the endless waiting for answers. How can we move forward when every announcement takes us straight back to this catastrophic moment? If the trust had an ounce of humility and remorse, they would deal with this without delay.”

‘A deeply concerning development’: our expert’s view

As well as supporting patients treated at Durham and Darlington, our specialist medical negligence team have significant experience of cancer misdiagnosis claims and surgery negligence claims .  

Clare Thompson , a Director and specialist medical negligence solicitor at Switalskis who is also supporting clients from County Durham in other negligence cases for serious injuries against the Trust, said: “This latest news is deeply concerning for so many patients, who will now worry that they too may have suffered harm due to negligence in their breast cancer treatment.

“The fact that the review is being extended to look back over a further seven years and for as many as 4,500 patients is horrifying. Based on what we know so far about the number of cases reviewed which have revealed some level of harm, it feels sadly inevitable that many more patients will discover that they too suffered harm through delayed breast cancer diagnosis or unnecessary surgery.”

She added: “This is such a sensitive issue for all those patients affected. Not only have they had to face the news that they have been diagnosed with breast cancer and undergone treatment, but now they face the devastating news and uncertainty regarding whether their treatment was delayed and if their life changing surgery could have been avoided.

“It’s a terrible situation for everyone affected. We’re supporting those who we can who are, understandably, keen to find out as soon as possible what went wrong in their case and why. They’re also determined to ensure that every lesson is learned from the mistakes made in the past to ensure that future patients do not suffer as they have.”

‘Not the standard of care we would want for them’

In July 2025, the Trust issued an apology to patients as its initial review was underway in which it confirmed that an independent review of breast services had been requested by the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (NENC ICB). The Royal College of Surgeons was invited to lead the review.

The decision followed concerns raised by the Northern Cancer Alliance about clinical approaches and service integration in July 2024.

In a statement, Kathryn Burn, Executive Director of Nursing, said: “We know that some patients have not received the standard of care that we would want for them, or that they deserve. We have identified areas where improvement was needed – including how surgical decisions were made, how our multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) worked and where some outdated practices were still in use.

“For some patients, this may have resulted in more extensive surgery than was clinically necessary at the time. We fully recognise how distressing this is to hear, and we are truly sorry.”