{"id":744098,"date":"2026-08-20T13:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T13:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/744098\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T13:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T13:58:09","slug":"unreasonable-delay-in-spotting-cancer-in-patient-who-later-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/744098\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Unreasonable delay’ in spotting cancer in patient who later died"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a report, external<\/a>, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) also said the practice should apologise for an “unreasonable standard” of assistance given to the patient around end-of-life and palliative care, and for “unreasonable reliance” on telephone consultations.<\/p>\n

The watchdog said it did note that the practice had “responded constructively” to the concerns raised in the family’s complaint and its inquiries.<\/p>\n

The SPSO said it took independent advice from a GP on the care provided to the patient, who is called “A” in the report.<\/p>\n

The watchdog said: “We found that relevant guidance was clear that A had red flag symptoms for pancreatic cancer from their initial presentation. <\/p>\n

“From this point until the urgent suspicion of cancer referral, there were missed opportunities to recognise the significance of A’s symptoms and refer them onward for further investigation.”<\/p>\n

Pancreatic cancer can be found anywhere in the pancreas, an organ in the top part of the stomach.<\/p>\n

The NHS says it can be difficult to treat, external<\/a> and treatment can include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and supportive care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a report, external, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) also said the practice should apologise for an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":744099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-744098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744098","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=744098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}