Twenty women had breasts removed unnecessarily, NHS trust admits

Twenty women underwent mastectomies unnecessarily while being treated for breast cancer, an NHS trust in north-east England has told the BBC.

The admission comes in the wake of revelations about serious failures in the unit, as reported by the BBC last year.

"There are no words I could use to convey how personally distressed I am," he says. "What happened was utterly unacceptable."

Dozens of affected women and their families contacted us after we reported concerns about serious failings at the trust's breast cancer unit. These included:

Outsourcing of some treatment to private clinics run by the trust's breast cancer clinical lead - an arrangement that one independent expert said created "a clear conflict of interest

Patients described the shock they had felt on being told a mastectomy (the removal of all or part of a breast) could have been avoided, as well as the psychological and physical pain that many still live with.

CDDFT is now carrying out an internal review of breast cancer cases between January 2023 and February 2025, alongside the cases of 640 former patients who contacted a dedicated helpline.

It says that cases have also been identified where cancer diagnoses were missed or delayed. Some of these patients subsequently saw their cancer spread.

He says the trust has been taking advice from patients' groups, clinical experts and legal representatives, and it will have to take "a really balanced view". Any decision, he adds, will be made public.

BBC health correspondent Sharon Barbour investigates a deepening breast cancer scandal in County Durham and hears from women whose mastectomies were unnecessary.