\n During an extraordinary meeting on Thursday (September 24) the trust\u2019s board backed plans to complete its current review of cases from January 2023 to February 2025 before working backwards towards 2015, one year at a time.\n<\/p>\n
\n Experts will assess the findings from each year before deciding whether the review needs to go back further.\n<\/p>\n
\n County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust\n<\/p>\n
\n The decision follows mounting evidence that concerns about breast cancer services had been raised for more than a decade<\/a> before the current scandal emerged.\n<\/p>\n \n Alison Marshall, chair of the board, issued a fresh apology to patients and families during the meeting at Prospect House in Durham, saying: “We are sincerely sorry for the harm caused to patients and families across the region.\n<\/p>\n \n “We can’t turn the clock back as much as we want to do, so we’re trying to be as open and transparent to patients and the public”\n<\/p>\n \n Chief executive of the Trust, Steve Russell added: “Patients were failed by us and no decision or ruling can ever change that. We can work with women and care boards to make sure their care is investigated and looked into in depth\n<\/p>\n \n Of 514 cases reviewed so far, 315 patients were found to have suffered harm, including 77 who suffered significant harm.\n<\/p>\n \n At least 20 women have been identified as having undergone unnecessary mastectomies<\/a>, while other cases involved delayed or missed cancer diagnoses and unnecessarily extensive surgery.\n<\/p>\n \n One patient is known to have died.\n<\/p>\n