Health board says sorry after cancer diagnosis delay

Miss C complained to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman on behalf of her late mother, described as Mrs A, who was admitted to Victoria Hospital with stomach pains which were thought to have been gallstones.

She was later diagnosed with cancer and Miss C complained that there was an "unreasonable delay" in diagnosing cancer.

The report by the Ombudsman says they took independent advice from a consultant surgeon and a consultant radiologist.

"We found that the board carried out appropriate investigations into Mrs A's condition," it stated. "However, we found that the board's interpretation of a scan was not reasonable as the scan results raised the possibility that Mrs A had liver cancer or a liver infection and that further investigations should have been recommended as a result of this.

"We found that there was an unreasonable delay in giving Mrs A an appointment to discuss those scan results and we noted that the board had identified this failing.

"We considered that the failings in the interpretation of Mrs A's scan led to an unreasonable delay in diagnosing her cancer. Therefore, we upheld this aspect of Miss C's complaint.

A complaint about an unreasonable delay in proceeding with surgery on Mrs A's gallbladder was not upheld as the SPSO found that it was appropriate that the board tried to treat her without surgery first.

NHS Fife has been asked to apologise to Miss C for the delay in diagnosing Mrs A's cancer.

To out things right in the future, it has recommended that, as far as possible, scan findings should be accurately reported.

NHS Fife's Director of Nursing, Helen Wright, said their aim was always to provide the very best care and treatment for each and every patient.

"We accept that the care in this instance was not of the high standards that our patients should expect and have apologised to the family involved," she said. “The recommendation made by the Ombudsman has now been implemented.”