{"id":387396,"date":"2026-04-08T02:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T02:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/387396\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T02:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T02:40:09","slug":"it-was-horrifying-jersey-patient-told-she-has-osteoporosis-eight-years-after-bone-density-scan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/387396\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It was horrifying’: Jersey patient told she has osteoporosis eight years after bone density scan"},"content":{"rendered":"

“You’ve failed hundreds of islanders, and that is unforgivable” – that is one Jersey<\/a> patient’s view after she received a letter confirming she had osteoporosis, despite medical professionals assuring her she did not eight years ago.<\/p>\n

Marina Mauger is among the more than 250 patients for whom a review identified potential concerns with their diagnoses and treatments after bone density scans conducted between January 2017 and January 2022. <\/p>\n

The letter also revealed that Marina is among the 20 people who may have been ‘moderately harmed’ by advice and care given to her at the time.<\/p>\n

“I was horrified,” she told ITV News. “When you open a letter, and it suddenly says, ‘We know you had a bonescan in 2018, and you were told it was all good. Well, with no treatment, we have suddenly reviewed your scans, and you have had osteoporosis for eight years.’<\/p>\n

“What difference will it make to my health to have not started the medication and to start it now, eight years later.<\/p>\n

“I think that’s a question everyone should be asking.”<\/p>\n

Potential issues were highlighted during the review of the island’s rheumatology service.<\/a>Specialist independent consultants, hired by Health and Care Jersey (HCJ), have now reviewed all 1,000 scans in this period.Of those, the consultants advised more than 250 patients should undertake a re-scan to “monitor any changes to bone density”.A further 20 patients received a ‘duty of candour’ letter, saying that the treatment and care those patients had following their scan “fell below the level that would have been expected”.<\/p>\n

A DEXA, or DXA, scan is a bone density scan which uses low doses of X-rays to see how dense – and therefore strong – a patient’s bones are. Credit: ITV News<\/p>\n

Marina was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 and was referred for a scan because her cancer treatment could have weakened her bones.<\/p>\n

She was assured at the time that her bones were not thinning, but the letter she received recently said the scan had actually shown she had osteoporosis – a condition that weakens bones, making them fragile.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Marina fractured her left wrist and had also previously fractured her ankle.<\/p>\n

Marina showed ITV News the letter, which said that if she had been receiving the correct treatment and medication, “the risk of sustaining [the wrist] fracture would have been reduced”.<\/p>\n

She says she received the “terrifying letter” with no warning, phone call or contact. “I did say to the consultant, ‘Do you not think that you might have been better to ring people and say this has come to light?’<\/p>\n

“But he said there were so many of us, they thought it would be best to send a letter.<\/p>\n

“I was one of the first 20, but there are actually 270 people they found with dodgy results. How does that happen? Who is checking who?”<\/p>\n

“The consultant also told me that because I was borderline [in 2018], I should have had bone scans every two years, but I had nothing for eight years.”<\/p>\n

Marina says that the experience has left her mistrusting the health service.<\/p>\n

“Eight years of no treatment, and during those eight years, I have had to have multiple follow-up surgeries for the cancer; anything could have happened to me.<\/p>\n

“I am having spinal surgery, and I am going to Taunton to have it, so that says all you need to know about my trust in Jersey’s health service.<\/p>\n

“The fact that they have no records of the cancer drug I was on for three years, no record of the letter which was sent to my oncologist, which said my bone density was good, what does that tell you?<\/p>\n

“I have very, very little confidence in any of them, really.”<\/p>\n

Simon West, Medical Director for Health and Care Jersey, says: “My door is always open to anyone who has a concern.” Credit: ITV Channel<\/p>\n

In a statement, Simon West, Medical Director for Health and Care Jersey, says: “I\u2019m sorry to hear that a patient was upset to receive the news via letter. That was not our intention.<\/p>\n

“Our aim was to set out the facts clearly and easily to try to alleviate any concerns patients may have. <\/p>\n

“We also included a telephone number to our PALS service for people to ring and to ask any questions that they may have. Affected patients have also been able to discuss the specifics of their case with one of the specialist independent consultants who undertook the review.<\/p>\n

“We will shortly begin inviting affected patients for a rescan and have set ourselves the target of completing all rescans by the end of May. <\/p>\n

“Reviews are common practice across all health organisations to assess whether services are fit for purpose, and islanders can be reassured that the care delivered by HCJ is safe and of a high standard. <\/p>\n

“However, my door is always open to anyone who has a concern about their medical treatment, as the quality and safety of our services are paramount to us.”<\/p>\n

Reporting History sees journalists join News At Ten anchor Tom Bradby to revisit their remarkable on-the-day reports of the defining events of the modern age. Listen to the episodes below…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“You’ve failed hundreds of islanders, and that is unforgivable” – that is one Jersey patient’s view after she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-387396","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}