Lives at risk due to medical scan mistakes, says ombudsman

England’s Health Lokpal has warned how CTS, X-rays and other medical scans are being interpreted, how to avoid the deaths and delays of patients to avoid it.

The most common problems include doctors failed to see abnormalities, scans are being delayed or not being done, and the results are not being properly followed.

The Lokpal has retained 45 cases intact or partially, including failures in medical imaging in the last four years, and says that the lesson should be learned to avoid the same mistakes again.

NHS England stated that employees work very hard to keep patients safe, but admitted that there was more to improve the “response to serious health issues”.

In one case, medical staff at Waxham Park Hospital in Slaw repeatedly failed to diagnose an 82-year-old man with bowel cancer and according to the Parliamentary and Health Service Lokpal (PHSO), left him suffering from prolonged pain.

The man of Buckinghamshire, between August and October 2021, went to A&E five times.

A scan taken in August showed a wound in the bowel.

However, the doctors did not explain any abnormalities, found in the investigation, causing a delay of six weeks in diagnosis and surgery.

The patient also had an X-ray in October that suggested a blockage in his small bowel, but this X-ray was not reviewed and he was discharged and sent home.

The cancer was later diagnosed that month and he had an operation to remove the part of the bowel. Surgery exposed another mass in his body elsewhere.

A few months later, the man took his life, leaving a note that he could no longer deal with the pain.

Lokpal, Rebecca Hilsenrath Casey said that the employees failed to manage their pain on five occasions.

The failures in their care “were probably contributing to the patient’s decision to end their lives”, reports their reports.

The man’s daughter said: “I really tried to listen to the doctors.

“I felt something wrong and I requested him several times to keep him in the hospital, but they just discharged him and do nothing to help him.”

A statement provided by the Hospital Trust states: “We are very sorry for failing to care in this case and soon have another meeting with the patient’s family to update them on the changes made by us.

“This involves ensuring that the older patients appearing with abdominal pain are properly reviewed.”

The trust has also agreed to pay £ 4,000 to the family recommended by PHSO.

In another investigation, the Lokpal found that the cancer tumor was incorrectly identified as a gentle (non -cancer) -despite repeated scans, otherwise despite suggestions.

A 54 -year -old man, after being unwell on leave, scanned his first scan in Tannerif.

His brother said: “When my brother fell into Tannerif, the hospital immediately identified the tumor what it was (an aggressive brain tumor) and even offered to remove it.

“But my brother wanted to come home, he thought that the best place for him was treatment in NHS.”

The person returned to Gilingham, where the local hospital further scanned to identify the tumor, and sent him to the experts at King’s College Hospital.

However, the employees there said “downgrade” and said that tumor was not cancer. The man was not offered chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

A month later to remove the tumor, he died, which was confirmed to have cancer.

If the cancer was correctly identified, he could do surgery months ago and possibly option for chemotherapy and radiotherapy, PHSO said.

While the survival rate for this cancer is poor, Ombdsman’s investigation suggests that man may have a few additional months of life.

His brother said: “I wanted the Kings College Hospital to accept his mistakes so that I could try to understand what happened to him and I was stopped trying to remember my brother.”

In a statement, the Kings College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “We fully recognize that there were errors in the care of this patient, and we apologized to his family at the time of the incident.

“Learning from mistakes is important when they are, and we have made several changes as a result of the matter to improve the security and effectiveness of care provided by our teams.”

The trust has agreed to pay £ 3,500 to the family.

Ms. Hilsnrath, whose team investigates the complaints independently, said: “We have investigated and represented a real person in each case, whose life is affected by failures in care.

“They are also all examples where the organization involved failed to identify that anything went wrong”

2021 Lokpal Report Medical imaging issues recommended system-wide reforms, but Ms. Hilsnrath said that some progress was made, yet she was looking at examples where people care for people’s care “with sub-most, often disastrous consequences”.

He said that it is “important” that action is taken to improve digital infrastructure in NHS and is ensured that people are diagnosed and rapidly treated.

The President of the Royal College of Radiologist, Dr. Catherine Holiday requires improvement in digital infrastructure.

“Ombdsman throws light on some destructive failures in NHS, and we must learn to run meaningful changes from these experiences collectively,” he said.

“However, it should also be assumed that these conclusions show a system that is overburdan and less—world.”

The college says it faces a 30% reduction of clinical radiologists, which is estimated to increase by 40% by 2028.

A NHS spokesperson said: “NHS gave a record number of tests and checks in 2024, which is fifth more than pre-political, but we know that there is more to improve the recognition and response of serious health issues.”

A spokesman for health and social care said: “Our deep sympathy is with all those who are influenced by the failures exposed in this shocking report.”

The spokesperson said that they were opening more community diagnostic centers (CDCs), and were using new technology such as AI, so “all patients could get world -class care”.

Changes in cancer care were also being introduced, the spokesperson said, who would look at more than 100,000 patients, who are diagnosed within four weeks and more than 19,000 people start their treatment within two months each year.