Breast cancer victims win payouts for '˜wrong' advice at King's Mill Hospital

Patients incorrectly advised to take the wrong type of breast cancer treatment at King's Mill Hospital have received an out-of-court settlement.
The secondary test results were false.The secondary test results were false.
The secondary test results were false.

Up to 79 women treated at the Sutton hospital were recalled in 2012 after concerns were raised about “inconsistent results” in a test which recommended which type of treatment was most suitable for them

The women, diagnosed with breast cancer between 2004 and 2010, were told their original oestrogen receptor test results were incorrect after an internal review, which led to retesting by an independent laboratory.

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The result of the receptor test is meant to help predict how likely that hormone therapy will be effective.

The women were advised from the secondary results to have adjuvant hormone therapy for five years, which causes a number of side effects including mood swings and joint pain.

However, The Royal College of Pathologists produced a report in February 2013, which found the second tests had given “false positives” ,meaning the original results were correct.

The women affected have now won a legal payout.


A spokeswoman for Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which operates King’s Mill, said the trust has apologised and the testing was transferred to another trust in 2011.

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Dr Andrew Haynes, trust medical director, said: “This must have been incredibly distressing for these women and I want to praise them for their dignity throughout this. On behalf of the trust I apologise to them again and while I recognise anything we do now cannot change the actions from five years ago, I hope this mutually agreed settlement will go some way to helping them today.

“I am confident this would not happen again now. ”