Hospital sorry for faulty tests
Updated on 04 December 2008
Hospital bosses have apologised to hundreds of patients who were recalled for further tests amid fears that they may have been wrongly given the all-clear from cancer.
A helpline has been set up for worried patients who underwent a colonoscopy at the Shepton Mallet Treatment Centre, in Somerset, between October 2005 and March this year.
All the colonoscopies, where a camera inspects the large bowel for signs of cancer, were carried out by Dutch surgeon Ben Mak.
The centre, a privately-owned facility that sells services to the NHS and sees 12,000 patients a year, has admitted that 1,828 colonoscopies were not correctly carried out and patients were potentially given incorrect diagnoses.
Mr Mak was suspended in March and resigned a month later from the centre after a review of his work.
Following investigations, 480 of the patients have now been told they do not have cancer but 1,350 have been given different advice.
The centre has told 100 patients to have a follow-up investigation as a priority, while 755 patients have been advised to see or speak to their GPs, and 480 have been told that further investigations may be needed in the next five years.
The alarm was raised in March after a colonoscopy patient was diagnosed with colon cancer by a specialist doctor at an NHS hospital.
The treatment centre records all colonoscopies on DVD so experts were able to review the surgeon's work over a six-month period.
The General Medical Council has been informed about the concerns over Mr Mak's work.
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