Several more women identified as sustaining harm at Durham NHS trust

NHS officials will be questioned by County Durham councillors at a public meeting discussing the latest updates on the scandal on Monday (March 16).

Ahead of the meeting, new figures from the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (CDDFT) have been released about the scale of harm identified so far.

The Darlington Memorial Hospital sign (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

Trust board papers confirm that 1,472 breast surgery cases carried out between January 2023 and February 2025 are under review.

So far, 344 patient reviews have been completed, identifying 54 cases involving moderate or severe harm and 178 cases involving minor harm.

In a separate update, the NHS Trust said that it had received 531 calls and emails to the helpline, including 222 since November 26 last year.

The current phase of the review focuses on patients treated between 2023 and early 2025, although investigations are also examining cases dating back to at least 2019.

The front of Darlington Memorial Hospital (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

There is no fixed completion date for releasing this data, though, according to the NHS trust.

This comes a day after Durham Police confirmed they are carrying out an active criminal investigation into the scandal-hit breast cancer surgery unit.

The review into the NHS service was triggered by a damning Royal College of Surgeons report in March 2025, which described a decade of “profoundly systemic” failures within the service.

It highlighted delayed diagnoses, excessive or unnecessary surgery, and failures to properly consider or discuss treatment options such as breast-conserving surgery and reconstruction at both Darlington Memorial Hospital and the University of North Durham Hospital.

An Independent External Review of Governance concluded that oversight arrangements were inadequate and inconsistent, and that repeated warnings had not been acted upon with sufficient urgency to protect patients.

The trust has apologised, saying its review identified that “we had let some patients down” and acknowledging the distress and uncertainty caused.

It said it has since undertaken a complete redesign of the breast service, bringing in external leadership, appointing new specialist surgeons and aligning care with national guidance.

However, pressures remain, with 361 patients currently waiting for a first appointment. Demand is running at 70 to 80 patients per week, with capacity at 78, and additional weekend clinics are planned from April subject to staffing.