Failings led to seven month delay in patient receiving cancer diagnosis: Investigation of a complaint against the Southern Health & Social Care Trust (Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman, 9 September 2025)

Summary

This report from the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman relates to the care and treatment the Southern Health and Social Care Trust provided to the patient between 2016 and 2018. The patient’s GP made an urgent referral to the Trust’s Breast Clinic on 15 February 2016. The Trust triaged the referral and downgraded it to routine. The patient attended the clinic in September 2016, seven months after the GP’s referral. In October 2016, the Trust diagnosed the patient with a probable grade II infiltrating duct carcinoma in her left breast

The investigation found the Trust failed to appropriately triage the GP referral. It also did not communicate its decision to downgrade the referral to the patient or her GP. The investigation found the failure caused the patient to experience a seven-month delay before she received her diagnosis and treatment.