NHS trust admits 20 women had breasts removed unnecessarily in cancer care scandal

Twenty women had their breasts removed unnecessarily while being treated for cancer at a hospital trust in north-east England. The County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust has now confirmed this fact to the BBC, and the admission marks a watershed moment in a scandal that has already touched hundreds of patients and their families.

The trust's newly appointed chief executive, Steve Russell, offered an apology he described as unreserved. "There are no words I could use to convey how personally distressed I am," he said. "What happened was utterly unacceptable." The statement came as the trust released findings from an internal review of breast cancer cases treated between January 2023 and February 2025. Of 514 cases examined so far, 315 patients were found to have suffered harm. Seventy-seven of those cases involved significant harm. One patient is known to have died. The review also identified cases where cancer diagnoses were missed or delayed, allowing disease to progress in some patients.

Denise Howarth, a 51-year-old from Consett, was one of the women who learned her mastectomy could have been avoided. She had discovered a lump in 2023 and was initially treated with a lumpectomy—a procedure that removes only the affected tissue. But she then underwent a full mastectomy, followed by eight rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In September 2025, the NHS called to tell her the breast removal had been unnecessary. A letter from the trust acknowledged that a second lumpectomy could have been offered instead, but the option had never been discussed with her. "I was just in shock, then ended up in tears on the phone," she said. The apology, she added, "will not bring my breast back."

Jo, another affected patient and a former NHS worker herself, received a similar call earlier this year. She had undergone a mastectomy in 2021 and was told it could have been prevented. The breach of trust cut deeper because she had worked in the health service. "You go to work to do your best, don't you?" she said. "So why would I think that anybody else wouldn't?" She now describes herself as feeling "mutilated" by what happened and calls the mistakes "absolutely unforgivable."

Both women were under the care of Amir Bhatti, a consultant who served as the trust's clinical lead for breast services from 2013 to 2024. Bhatti has been suspended from clinical practice but remains employed by the trust on full pay. An investigation by governance specialist Mary Aubrey, published in 2025, raised concerns about a financial arrangement between the trust and Bhatti's private clinics. Over six years, the trust paid nearly £6 million to diagnostic and surgery companies he ran privately. Aubrey's report flagged this as creating financial incentives that posed "a risk to clinical standards." Russell acknowledged the trust had failed to manage a conflict of interest properly, though he noted that payment-per-service arrangements are not uncommon in healthcare. The trust has since ended this arrangement for breast cancer services.

The failures extended beyond individual decision-making. A report by the Royal College of Surgeons found that breast cancer cases were not being properly discussed in multidisciplinary team meetings—gatherings where surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, and cancer specialists are supposed to review and challenge treatment plans before major procedures like mastectomies. The trust's breast unit was contributing little to these meetings, the report found, meaning decisions were being made on the unchallenged opinion of individual surgeons. The unit also showed outdated practices: a high rate of repeated procedures, low uptake of breast reconstruction immediately after mastectomy, and operations that may have been performed too hastily.

Liz O'Riordan, a former breast cancer surgeon, reviewed photographs of scarring from one patient, Pam Brown, who had undergone a mastectomy at a private clinic in Washington in 2022. Bhatti oversaw her care as well. O'Riordan described the scarring as "awful" and said she had never seen anything comparable. "That's not acceptable at all," she said. "I'd have brought her back for revision surgery." She emphasized that breast cancer surgery operates under some of the tightest guidelines and protocols in medicine, and patients should receive the same standard of care whether treated in the public or private sector, anywhere in the UK.

The investigation has now widened. The National Crime Agency is working with Durham Police to determine whether criminal offences have taken place. A decision is imminent on whether to expand the review to cases dating back to 2015—a move that could mean reopening up to 10,000 medical records. At a support group meeting in Stanley, women and their families are gathering to share their experiences and call for a public inquiry. Lynn, one of the group's organizers, had her surgery in 2016 and has felt unwell ever since. She too was told her breast removal was unnecessary. "I didn't realise how many ladies lived so near me that had been affected," she said. "I'm just totally overwhelmed." For all these women, an apology cannot restore what was taken.