Bristol, UK – 3rd March, 2019: The hospital that missed six chances to save a nurse's life because of smear test blunders had previously paid compensation to another woman for failing to diagnose her cervical cancer.
The mother of two had to have a full hysterectomy after Southmead Hospital in Bristol failed to spot abnormalities in two smear tests. That led to a negligence payout in 2014.
The compensation from North Bristol NHS Trust came in the same year that nurse Julie O'Connor first dealt with the hospital.
Mrs O'Connor, 49, who was repeatedly assured by pathology unit staff that she did not have the disease, died last month.
Now the woman forced into having a hysterectomy is demanding a 'complete review' of the hospital's pathology department.
The mother, from Bristol, who has asked not to be named to protect her family, said: 'I'm almost certain that there must be other victims, that there must be smears being incorrectly reported all the time.
'The year Julie had her first smear was the year my case concluded and they [the trust] said they had made all these changes. [But] the fact that went on to happen makes me wonder what changes, if any, have actually been made.
'I felt very angry and upset when I read that and thought that could have been me.'
The woman, who also works in the medical sector, went for a routine smear in 2010 and was told a few weeks later that she had cervical cancer.
But a review found her previous smear tests in 2002 and 2006 – reported as normal – had shown abnormalities.
In Mrs O'Connor's case, her smear test in September 2014 was reported as normal despite being found later to have 'plentiful' abnormal cells.
Further tests failed to pick up the disease and it was only in March 2017 that she was diagnosed at a private clinic.
Last night Mrs O'Connor's husband Kevin said: 'It's sad there is another victim. If there are other people out there, they need to come forward.'
Chris Burton, of North Bristol NHS Trust, said: 'We have commissioned an independent investigation and we will be open with the overall findings.'
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6767483/Hospital-missed-nurses-cancer-paid-second-blunder.html