NEARLY £900,000 has been paid by an NHS trust after settling 19 claims for delays in cancer diagnosis and misdiagnosis.

The Mid and South Essex (MSE) NHS Trust has settled 19 claims related to cancer misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis in the last five years costing a total of £887,422.

The trust had a total of 40 claims and incidents lodged against it in the last year as well as 19 settled claims – the second highest for any trust in the country.

A Freedom of Information request by Medical Negligence Assist (MNA) - legal specialists in medical negligence claims - found six claims and incidents were received by ‘NHS Resolution’ between 2019/2020 by the hospital trust.

A further eight claims were made between 2022/21, which was more than doubled in 2021/22 with 17 claims being made.

Another nine claims were made in 2022/23.

Nationally, the NHS has paid out £128million on such claims in the past five years, including the failure to interpret X-rays, failure to act on abnormal test results and wrong diagnosis.  

Diane Sarkar, chief nursing and quality Officer at the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust, said: “We recognise that delays or misdiagnosis in cancer is upsetting for anyone affected, but incidents of this nature are rare compared to the thousands of people we treat every year for cancer across mid and south Essex.

“We work hard to reduce delays, improve accuracy of diagnosis, and ensure we have the latest technology to support that diagnosis."

A spokesman for the trust said it is one of the largest cancer centres in the East of England region.

They said: “Community diagnostic centres are already supporting people with faster diagnostics.

“Since December 2023, mobile facilities have delivered thousands of diagnostic scans while we wait for the centres to be built. Access to tests and scans will be greatly increased during 2024/25.”

University Hospitals Leicester had the highest number of closed or settled claims at 26 and had the highest total of damages paid at £3,512,813.