Hospital apologises to cancer survivor

Hospital bosses have apologised to a woman who recovered from cancer despite being told her condition was untreatable.

Mid-Staffordshire Hospitals NHS Trust accepted that the quality of care Susan White received "fell below the standard expected".

Mrs White, aged 53, from Rugeley, Staffordshire, was informed by clinical oncologist Dr John Scoble at Stafford District General Hospital that her ovarian cancer had spread and could not be treated.

But despite the doctor telling her she had "just months" to live, her son sought a second opinion and she was successfully treated at another hospital.

In a statement, the trust said the case had been reviewed by an independent panel.

But it rejected claims that up to 300 patients treated by Dr Scoble would now have to be recalled.

"It is clear from the review that the doctor's clinical judgment - that the patient would not have benefited from surgery - was potentially flawed and that, with the benefit of hindsight, the review has now accepted that this course of action was not appropriate," the statement said.

"We take this incident, and the recommendations made by the panel, very seriously. We have already drawn up an action plan to meet each recommendation."

Officials described Mrs White's experience as an " isolated case" and stressed it should not detract from the " excellent" work of medical staff.

They added: "The trust has complete confidence in the treatment provided by the doctor (Dr Scoble) to other patients and does not envisage that their treatment will need to be reviewed or that patients will need to be recalled."

Mrs White, a grandmother and mother of three, first went into hospital in 2001 after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer and was given a course of chemotherapy.

She was told her condition was untreatable when she returned to see Dr Scoble in 2003 and it was established she had a tumour in her abdomen.

Following her son's research on the internet, the tumour was removed at The Christie Hospital in Manchester and she was given the all-clear in February last year.