NHS Trust Admits at Least Twenty Women Underwent Unnecessary Mastectomies Amid Deepening Hospital Care Scandal

At least twenty women underwent completely unnecessary mastectomies while undergoing treatment for breast cancer at an NHS trust in north-east England, hospital officials have acknowledged. The admission highlights the escalating severity of clinical failures inside the specialized breast unit at the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (CDDFT).

The surgical removals are part of a much broader pattern of patient harm that has emerged across the healthcare provider. According to the trust’s ongoing internal review, hundreds of individuals were adversely affected during their care. Of 514 clinical cases examined by auditors so far, 315 patients were confirmed to have suffered harm, with 77 classified as having sustained significant harm. One patient is confirmed to have died.

Steve Russell, who recently assumed the role of chief executive at CDDFT, issued an unreserved apology for the extensive damage caused under the organization's watch. Russell stated that he is personally distressed by the findings and acknowledged that the severe shortcomings in medical care were entirely unacceptable.

The healthcare provider is currently conducting a formal internal audit examining cancer treatments administered between January 2023 and February 2025. This investigation is being carried out alongside the assessment of 640 former patients who came forward to contact a dedicated hospital helpline established following initial reporting on the unit's deficiencies.

Hospital bosses are now on the verge of deciding whether to dramatically expand the timeline of the audit. If approved, the inquiry will be extended backwards to cover treatments dating back to 2015. Such a wide-ranging historical reassessment could require the re-examination of as many as 10,000 individual patient records.

The widening crisis has also attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies. The National Crime Agency is actively collaborating with Durham Police to examine allegations raised by former patients and assess whether any criminal offences were committed during the delivery of breast services.

Beyond unneeded surgical amputations, the audit uncovered multiple instances where breast cancer diagnoses were either missed entirely or heavily delayed. Hospital leadership acknowledged that these diagnostic failures permitted malignant conditions to progress and spread to other areas of the body in several patients.

Much of the clinical scrutiny centers on Mr Amir Bhatti, who served as the clinical lead for breast services at the trust from 2013 until 2024. While Bhatti has been officially suspended from active clinical practice, he remains an employee of the NHS trust on full pay.

Financial records have revealed that nearly £6 million was paid out by the trust over a six-year period to private surgery and diagnostic companies operated by Bhatti. The trust frequently outsourced diagnostic appointments and surgical procedures to these external corporate entities.

The appropriateness of these commercial arrangements was heavily criticized in an external 2025 governance report conducted by specialist Mary Aubrey. The review concluded that outsourcing patient appointments created substantial financial incentives that posed a potential hazard to clinical standards. While Russell noted that fee-for-service models exist in healthcare, he conceded that the trust failed to properly manage the severe conflict of interest, confirming that the outsourcing arrangement has since been terminated.

Among the women subjected to avoidable surgical interventions is Denise Howarth, a 51-year-old resident of Consett, County Durham. Howarth received a diagnosis of slow-growing, grade 1 cancer in 2023 after finding a lump, subsequently undergoing a lumpectomy, a full mastectomy, and extensive rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

In September 2025, Howarth was contacted by the NHS and received a follow-up letter from the trust confessing that her mastectomy had been unnecessary. The correspondence acknowledged that a second lumpectomy could have successfully treated her condition, but that this conservative option had never been presented or discussed with her. Howarth stated that while an apology had been issued, it would never undo the loss of her breast.

Another affected patient, an ex-NHS employee referred to as Jo, contacted the trust's support line regarding a mastectomy performed in 2021. She was subsequently informed during a phone call that the major procedure could have been entirely avoided, leaving her with profound feelings of mutilation and betrayal after trusting former colleagues.

Other former patients, including Pam Brown of Durham, have expressed similar trauma, describing the psychological and physical aftermath of operations that left them feeling butchered. Many of the affected women have established peer support networks to help cope with the lasting emotional and physical fallout, while uniting to demand a full public inquiry into the institutional failures of the trust.