NHS nurse criticises health bosses from deathbed after cervical cancer missed six times

Husband holds North Bristol Trust senior staff accountable

A dying nurse has hit out at NHS bosses after multiple chances to diagnose her cervical cancer were missed.

Mother-of-two Julie O’Connor was eventually found to have the disease by a private gynaecologist, three years after a 2014 smear test gave her the all clear.

An independent review of that initial finding was later shown to have signs of cervical cancer and her husband Kevin said there were six tests, biopsies and examinations in total, where the cancer could have been caught

In a video recorded three days before she died at St Peter’s Hospice in Bristol, Julie who worked for the NHS for 13 years, said: “It’s disgusting I have been suffering the way I have and I continue to suffer.”

Sitting alongside her Kevin said that the message is intended for staff and senior directors who missed her diagnosis, and to ensure a repeat of the mistakes isn’t allowed to happen.

“We hold them fully accountable," he said. “The pathologist and the gynaecologist, who had several opportunities to intervene, I hold them responsible, and I do hold the board of directors at North Bristol Trust accountable. They put me and Julie through this."

The family are now calling for a wider review of screening and diagnostics at the trust, as well as its process for managing complaints from families.

“No one person can be that unlucky,” Kevin said. “To have a misdiagnosed smear, missed biopsies and all these clinical examinations and we’re talking senior members of staff. There needs to be an independent public inquiry – that is the only way we are going to get to the bottom of it."

The trust said it has commissioned an independent review of its investigation into Ms O’Connor’s care.

“We are extremely sorry to hear that Ms O’Connor has died,” said Dr Chris Burton, North Bristol NHS Trust medical director. “We have her family in our thoughts at this very difficult time and we send our deepest condolences. We are committed to understanding the full circumstances of the care we provided so we can improve our services for the future, and we will be publicly open with the overall findings of the independent investigation we have commissioned.

“I have met with Mr O’Connor and will remain in contact with him.”

Women aged 25 to 49 are invited for cervical cancer screening every three years, but uptake of the test is at a record low of 71 per cent.

The NHS is currently reviewing cancer screening across the NHS, following a National Audit Office report which found two thirds of women waited too long for smear test results.

Women aged between 25 and 49 are invited for screening every three years, rising to every five years for women aged 50 to 64.

But a National Audit Office report earlier this month found that just a third of patients received their test results within the recommended two weeks, with some left waiting an agonising four months.