A medical practice in the Wolverhampton area

4. Mrs A complains about the treatment she received from the Practice in June 2019. She complains that the GP dismissed her concerns and her request for a mammogram, delaying a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment by six months.

5. Mrs A explained that she is normally a fit, healthy person. She is active, has a fulltime job and has a family. The news that she had breast cancer was devastating, and on top of the diagnosis, she says the knowledge that the cancer could have been found and treated six months earlier has left her very angry.

6. She had to have triple doses of radiotherapy during a pandemic, which she says was frightening.

7. She feels she was not listened to, her fears were brushed aside, and that she was not treated as she should have been.

8. She will now have to take medication (tamoxifen) for ten years to attempt to stop the cancer from returning, which she says has put her into full menopause. She has been suffering with terrible hot sweats and has had to have acupuncture to try and alleviate this. She does not sleep well and has become anxious in certain situations where she has not been before.

9. She is also living with the constant fear that the cancer will come back. She is angry that diagnosis was delayed and holds her GP responsible for this.

10. By bringing the complaint, Mrs A wants to see processes and procedures at the Practice revised, so doctors listen to and sympathise with women who are going through the menopause.

11. She would like an apology from the Practice. Mrs A is also seeking compensation, which she says should take into the account of a delayed diagnosis of six months. She feels a figure of £10,000 per month of delay would be a starting point.

12. Mrs A visited the Practice in June 2019 complaining of menopausal symptoms, dizziness, and generally not feeling right.

13. She asked for an overall check-up, as she had not been called for one in some time. Due to her family history of breast cancer, she asked for a mammogram. She says that there were obvious hormonal changes that she recognised in herself, and she wanted the mammogram to put her mind at rest. This request was denied.

14. She was instead referred to the Breast History Clinic at the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust.

15. Mrs A attended in November 2019. She was given a mammogram and an ultrasound on that day as the breast nurse was worried about a ‘thickening’ area in her right breast.

16. Mrs A was called in early December 2019, to be told that there had been noticeable changes and she would need an intense mammogram and a possible biopsy.

17. Four days later she had a mammogram and biopsy. The mammogram found that the area that they were concerned about looked healthy. However, they were concerned about another area, deeper in the breast, and completed the biopsy.

18. At the end of December 2019, Mrs A attended an appointment with a Breast Consultant at the Trust. He advised that she had stage one invasive breast cancer. Following this diagnosis, she underwent surgery and several months of radiotherapy, which was completed in May 2020.

20. The law says a person needs to make their complaint to us within a year of becoming aware of the problem. We cannot investigate complaints brought to us after one year, unless we consider there is a good reason. We have discussed this with Mrs A to understand the reasons why she could not bring her complaint to us sooner. We have also considered the time the Practice has taken to respond to Mrs A.

21. Mrs A believes her cancer would have been detected six months earlier had she been given a mammogram when she requested one. She says that while she understands that the operation and treatment would probably have been the same, the cancer would no doubt have been smaller. She says it is likely that she could have avoided the second operation and would not have had to have triple doses of radiotherapy (during the pandemic).

22. We previously assessed Mrs A’s complaint in June 2021.

23. At the time, the complaint was one month and 20 days outside of our 12-month time limit. After conversations with Mrs A, we made the decision that it was reasonable to set our time limit aside.

24. Local resolution with the Practice had taken over seven months. There had been a six month delay between Mrs A’s date of knowledge and her raising the complaint to the Practice. Mrs A explained that the delay was because she had been undergoing radiotherapy and had not felt mentally and physically strong enough to deal with the complaint any earlier.

25. We found her explanation that radiotherapy meant she was too sick to make the complaint to the Practice immediately to be a credible one. We could also see that she persisted with both the Practice and with NHS England to try and get a more detailed investigation and response to her complaint. For these reasons, and as the complaint was not out of time by a significant amount of time, we felt it was fair to set this aside.

26. The final decision though was that Mrs A should seek her desired outcomes through legal means, and the case was closed. That decision was given to Mrs A by letter on 30 June 2021.

27. Almost a year later, on 14 June 2022, Mrs A sent an email asking if we could reopen her complaint, because she was not in a position to take legal action.

28. We have discussed with Mrs A the reasons that she was unable to take legal action, and she has explained that she did not seek legal action. She says she did consider doing so but decided against it because of the amount of time a claim could take, and because she felt she was not mentally strong enough to follow it through.

29. At no point in the year following the closure of the original case has Mrs A come back to us to discuss this further.

30. We have reviewed the statement from the decision on the original complaint, and can see it included the following paragraph:

‘Should you be unsuccessful in this approach, you may have the option to return to us to seek the other outcomes that the court may not consider (process changes and an apology). For these reasons, we consider it would be reasonable for you to seek legal advice about your complaint and we have decided not to take any further action at this time. Please be aware complaints should be brought to us within 12 months of the date you became aware of the matters you complain about. We can consider any reasons for the delay but please return to us as soon as you can, should you want us to consider your complaint’

31. Mrs A was clearly advised that if she wants to return to us, she should as soon as she could. She has provided nothing to justify the delay of a year and has confirmed that it was simply a change of heart that prevented her from taking legal action, not that legal action was taken but did not reach a satisfactory conclusion.

32. As an impartial service, we cannot reasonably say that it would be fair to the Practice were we to set this delay of an entire year aside with no reasons given.

33. We understand how upsetting and difficult the events have been for Mrs A. We do not want to detract from this. We will not be taking any further action on the complaint.

1. We have carefully considered Mrs A’s complaint about a medical practice in the Wolverhampton area (the Practice).

2. We recognise that this has been a difficult period for Mrs A, and that her cancer diagnosis has had a huge impact on her life.

3. Having reviewed the complaint, we have decided that the complaint falls outside of our time limit.