\n Slater and Gordon, who represent many women pursuing legal claims who say they suffered avoidable harm because of multiple failings at CDDFT, have urged Government ministers to get involved in looking into the trust.\n<\/p>\n
\n This comes on the same day that The Northern Echo is calling on new Prime Minister Andy Burnham to back our six-point manifesto, which includes calling a public inquiry into the trust.\n<\/p>\n
\n A County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust sign (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)\n<\/p>\n
\n The law firm has welcomed the findings of a damning report by healthcare regulator the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which identified that there were “significant and serious concerns” at the trust.\n<\/p>\n
\n They added that this report shows their clients’ concerns were justified, emphasised the importance of independent scrutiny, of speaking up and holding institutions to account.\n<\/p>\n
\n Chloe Gibson, specialist clinical negligence solicitor in Slater and Gordon\u2019s North East team, said: \u201cWhile we welcome the CQC’s intervention and the clear recognition that serious shortcomings existed within the Trust, this must not be the end of the process.\n<\/p>\n
\n “The scale of the issues identified across multiple independent reviews, alongside the number of women potentially now affected and the systemic nature of the concerns, means there must be complete transparency and reinforce our belief that there remains a compelling case for a full public inquiry.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Chloe Gibson, specialist clinical negligence solicitor in Slater and Gordon\u2019s North East team (Image: SLATER AND GORDON)\n<\/p>\n
\n The CQC downgraded the trust’s \u2018well-led\u2019 rating from ‘Good’ to ‘Inadequate’ following inspections.\n<\/p>\n
\n Its assessment highlighted serious concerns and significant failings in leadership, governance, complaints handling, risk management, and organisational culture, concluding that leaders had not always identified or acted on risks quickly enough and that there had been missed opportunities to learn from concerns.\n<\/p>\n
\n CQC inspectors found evidence of a culture in which staff felt discouraged from speaking up, with some describing a \u2018blame culture\u2019 and a tendency towards \u2018turning a blind eye\u2019 to concerns.\n<\/p>\n
\n The CQC further noted that it had, on several occasions, become aware of serious patient safety incidents through the media or parliamentary contacts rather than direct notification from the trust.\n<\/p>\n
\n Former clinical lead at the NHS Trust’s breast cancer service, Amir Bhatti (Image: SUPPLIED)\n<\/p>\n
\n The regulator issued warning notices and said the trust must make immediate improvements to the quality and safety of care it provides.\n<\/p>\n
\n Slater and Gordon said the CQC\u2019s findings reinforce serious concerns raised following a series of independent investigations into the breast cancer service, with more than 1,500 patient records now being reviewed.\n<\/p>\n
\n At the centre of the scandal, the former clinical lead for breast services, Amir Bhatti, is still employed on full pay at the Trust, despite not currently performing surgical duties.\n<\/p>\n
\n Durham Police are also investigating whether any criminal incidents happened at the trust. At the same time, campaigners have set up a petition calling for a public inquiry, which has garnered over 2,000 signatures so far.\n<\/p>\n
\n A Darlington Memorial Hospital sign (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)\n<\/p>\n
\n Questions have also been raised about how long the breast cancer failings have been taking place for.\n<\/p>\n
\n Chloe Gibson added: \u201cWhile the trust has acknowledged that patients were let down, every effort must be made to get clear answers about how these failures were allowed to continue for so long, and to ensure no other patient experiences the same harm.\n<\/p>\n
\n “The women at the heart of this scandal have shown remarkable courage in coming forward. Many have spoken publicly despite the trauma they have endured because they want to ensure that no one else experiences the same failings.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The Trust has accepted the findings of recent reviews, apologised to affected patients and said it is \u201cprofoundly sorry\u201d, acknowledging missed cancers, delays in diagnosis, unnecessary procedures and care that fell far below the standards patients deserved.\n<\/p>\n
\n Gill Hunt, Chief Nurse at CDDFT, said the trust fully recognises the seriousness of what has happened in breast services and the \u201csignificant impact and distress\u201d caused to patients and families.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said the trust remains committed to being open and transparent about progress made and the work still ahead.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe understand the strength of feeling that remains and why people want clear answers and confidence that learning and improvement have taken place,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe take that responsibility very seriously and are committed to ensuring concerns are thoroughly investigated, affected patients are supported, and the lessons identified lead to meaningful and lasting improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Slater and Gordon, who represent many women pursuing legal claims who say they suffered avoidable harm because of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":710256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-710255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=710255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/710255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=710255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=710255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=710255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}