Poor IT a ‘critical’ threat to breast cancer service

Poor IT represents a “critical” threat to patient safety and service delivery in a trust’s breast cancer unit, a report has warned.

A Royal College of Radiologists review of County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust’s breast cancer service found cases where the wrong women were scanned, while others had the incorrect side of their body examined.

Problems with the trust’s picture and communication service (PACS) meant that clinicians were sometimes unable to access critical prior imaging – particularly from independent sector providers – leading to delays, system overload and reliance on incomplete records.

There were also reports of misdirected or lost findings, risking time-critical results not being acted upon.

The RCR report is the latest investigation into breast cancer services at CDDFT, where major failings were identified last year after a review of cases.

While previous reviews have looked at surgical practice, leadership and governance, the RCR review focuses on the imaging and reporting aspect of the symptomatic breast service. However, leadership and governance problems were also found in radiology, the RCR said.

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Source: HSJ, 31 March 2026