Mrs X raised a concern that signs of her late husband’s cancer were missed on a chest X-ray taken in May 2021. He was subsequently diagnosed with advanced cancer in October 2021, and sadly died very soon after.
Having sought clinical advice on the scans, the Ombudsman found that there was no evidence of malignancy on the earlier chest X-ray, nor anything that should have prompted follow up investigations. The subsequent scans taken in October 2021, when the diagnosis was made, clearly showed widespread development of tumours in the lungs and liver, indicating an unusually aggressive cancer.
As the Ombudsman was satisfied that nothing was missed on the scans, she found no reason to continue the investigation.