Echo Comment on a public inquiry into breast cancer care in Durham

To answer that and provide that reassurance, James Murray, the new Health Secretary, has to hold a public inquiry into this growing scandal. So far, it is known that 270 women have been harmed, 45 moderately and 19 severely, including one death. 

A review by governance specialist Mary Aubrey said “persistent concerns” about breast cancer treatment had been raised since 2012, and that the trust “failed to act on repeated warnings and evidence… which allowed unsafe and outdated practices to persist”.

New management at the trust say procedures have improved and we have to believe them, yet a Quality Care Commission report released just last week says that only last year there were times when management was turning blind eyes to concerns. Surely Mr Murray can see why, in this light, there is such deep unease and that only a public inquiry can clear the air.

It must also, for the sake of future patients, explain how this situation arose. There is a profound question to be asked about the role of a private clinic, with a £6m contract, in reducing waiting lists – this is not about rerunning the arguments about private involvement in the NHS but it is about asking how those contracts are run, how the NHS knows that its patients are being properly and treated, because it is becoming increasingly clear that hundreds of local women have been profoundly failed over a long period of time.

Was this just a one off, or were other blind eyes being turned to the operation of other contracts?

An inquiry is needed to give answers to those women who have been failed, to provide reassurance to women who are currently undergoing treatment, and to offer future patients the security of knowing their treatment is being properly managed. Please, Mr Murray, open your eyes to this…