Cancer patients warned of test mistakes

Mar 20 2008 by Steffan Rhys, Western Mail

HUNDREDS of cancer patients have been warned their test results might be wrong as another Welsh hospital yesterday admitted making mistakes in testing.

More than 500 men around South West Wales have been told their prostate biopsy results are being re-checked after mistakes at West Wales General Hospital in Carmarthen.

It is the latest in a series of recent errors admitted by hospitals in Wales and the second in Carmarthenshire in six months.

In January, Wrexham Maelor Hospital began reviewing the results of 4,500 cancer tests after it emerged that a consultant histopathologist may have made errors in up to 15 diagnoses. In that case, at least three patients who had been given the all-clear are now being treated for cancer.

In September, a consultant at Prince Philip Hospital in Llanelli was sacked after routine checks uncovered errors affecting 34 patients, 10 of whom were put on the wrong treatment regime.

Carmarthenshire NHS Trust yesterday issued a public apology and said that letters had been sent to 528 people who had prostate biopsies after quality checks by the trust revealed a “small number” of discrepancies in the reporting of specimens.

It said rechecks are being carried out as a precaution but it is expected the vast majority of patients would not be affected. An independent agency is also reviewing the tests, which the trust said would take up to seven weeks to complete.

The trust said in cases where inaccuracies had occurred, patients would be contacted directly by a hospital clinician or GP to have their care reviewed, while patients whose tests had been checked but confirmed as correct would also be sent follow-up letters in order to reassure them.

Prostate biopsies are only undertaken when earlier tests have shown abnormalities in the prostate.

Keith Cass, who has stage four prostate cancer and has just launched a campaign to improve support for men diagnosed with prostate cancer, said, “Men don’t go for prostate tests anyway and this isn’t going to encourage them to go for tests which cannot be relied on.”

Wales was last year identified as having a rate of prostate cancer 13% higher than elsewhere in the UK with a death rate also 2.5% higher.

Carmarthenshire NHS Trust chief executive Paul Barnett said, “The trust would like to publicly apologise for any distress this may cause the patients involved and to reassure them that the necessary steps are being taken to ensure that any errors are detected and dealt with as soon as possible.”

Are you one of the affected men? If so, please call Steffan Rhys on 01267 236 943 or our Health Editor Madeleine Brindley on 029 2058 3678