Revealed: Damning NHS failures that led to a nurse's death from cervical cancer including smear test sample that was 'plentiful' with abnormal cells

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Let down by the NHS: Cancer victim Julie O’Connor with daughter Sophie, 22

A damning report has laid bare the shocking extent of an NHS hospital’s failure to diagnose a nurse’s cervical cancer.

A smear test sample taken from Julie O’Connor was ‘plentiful’ with abnormal cells and it was a ‘breach of duty of care’ that they were not noticed, an independent analysis found.

Mrs O’Connor, who worked in the NHS for 13 years, was wrongly told six times by Southmead Hospital in Bristol that she did not have cervical cancer.

It was only when she went to see a private consultant three years after the original test that she learned the truth.

By that time, the mother-of-two was told that she had a 4.5cm tumour and her illness was terminal. She died last week.

Mrs O’Connor and her husband Kevin condemned health chiefs at North Bristol Hospital Trust for the blunders that eventually cost the 49-year-old her life.

They say a diagnosis should have been made as early as September 2014, when Mrs O’Connor went for a smear test.

The test results returned to her said that her sample was negative – suggesting there was nothing of concern. However, an independent analysis of the original sample – which the family paid for themselves after learning she did, in fact, have cancer – paints a very different picture.

The report was carried out by Dr Sanjiv Manek, who is a consultant gynaecological pathologist at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust.

It says ‘there are plentiful abnormal cells all over this slide’, adding it was ‘unreasonable’ the sample was reported as negative.

Mrs O’Connor (left), who worked in the NHS for 13 years, was wrongly told six times by Southmead Hospital in Bristol that she did not have cervical cancer

Mr and Mrs O’Connor had been a couple since they were 18 years old and had two children, Sophie (centre left), 22, and Daniel, 19 (right)

The report adds: ‘It should have been straightforward to pick out these abnormalities and make a diagnosis.’

Experts concluded that had these abnormalities been detected, a colposcopy would have been carried out and ‘a precancerous and in my opinion early cancerous lesion would have been detected’.

The report said that such action would have detected the problem ‘at a stage when simpler treatment would have sufficed’.

It concluded: ‘There is a breach of duty of care in reporting this cytology sample given the obvious abnormal nature of the cells.

‘There is, therefore, negligence in reporting this cytology, resulting in a delay in diagnosis of the cervical cancer.’

The family paid for the report in the hope of getting answers relating to Mrs O’Connor’s missed diagnosis. Last night, her husband said of the report: ‘It’s just blatant negligence and incompetence. We contacted the trust to say that the root cause analysis they were doing at the time was flawed as it was based on factual inaccuracies as the report was being carried out on their own findings.

‘We told them our analysis had proved them wrong and that they were wasting their time. But they chose to continue and ignore [the report].

‘It’s criminal. All we were trying to do was help them.

‘I told the board of directors I’d paid for these reports and offered them to them. I said they could use them if it helped with the investigation but they wouldn’t.’ Mr and Mrs O’Connor had been a couple since they were 18 years old and had two children, Sophie, 22, and Daniel, 19.

Mr O’Connor said: ‘Julie was my life. We can’t replace Julie. We’re all devastated. But I can’t change the past. Julie’s gone – she’ll always be in our hearts – but what we can do is make some positives out of this.’

He is calling for a wide-ranging independent public inquiry into smear tests at Southmead Hospital dating back as far as 2012.

Mr O’Connor said: ‘We don’t think it’s isolated. We think there is a systemic problem there. No one person can be that unlucky to have a misdiagnosed smear, missed biopsies and all these clinical examinations and we’re talking senior members of staff.

‘We want to look forward, but we also have to look back and work out if there are other victims out there – that’s what Julie wanted to do.’

Jackie Linehan, legal director of Enable Law, who represented Mrs O’Connor in a medical negligence claim against the trust, said: ‘Julie was keen that Southmead Hospital undertake a wider review of pathology services.

‘Her concern was to ensure that other women who may have had false negative smear or biopsy results should be checked to prevent a wider spread of their cervical cancer and to see whether her case was a one-off or not.

‘She also wished to remind women to attend their regular cervical cancer screening. It is welcome news that Southmead has agreed that an independent review of Julie’s care is necessary and, hopefully, as part of that review, the independent reviewer will consider whether the decision by Southmead Hospital not to undertake a wider review of pathology services is a decision which stands up to scrutiny.’

North Bristol NHS Trust medical director Dr Chris Burton said: ‘We are extremely sorry to hear that Mrs O’Connor has died. We have her family in our thoughts at this very difficult time and we send our deepest condolences.

‘We are committed to understanding the full circumstances of the care we provided so we can improve our services for the future and we will be publicly open with the overall findings of the independent investigation we have commissioned.’

He added: ‘I have met with Mr O’Connor and will remain in contact with him.’