NHS Grampian has apologised after a family was torn apart following its misdiagnosis of a Moray mother’s cancer.

A complaint report from the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) has upheld a complaint against the health board, which initially said the woman had terminal breast cancer in 2023.

According to BBC News, 67-year-old Mary Crowley and her husband Tony decided to sell their home in Tomintoul and move to the central belt to be closer to family after the devastating news.

However, retired GP Tony correctly began to doubt that his wife’s cancer scan had accounted for a previous injury.

A further scan would later determine that his wife actually had stage one breast cancer.

But the stress of the misdiagnosis, the complaints process and relocating reportedly led him to take his own life at the age of 70 in 2024.

According to the SPSO report, a complaint was filed about the care that Mary received along with NHS Grampian’s communication and complaints handling.

The watchdog described decisions made by the family after the misdiagnosis as “life changing”.

In a statement posted to its website, the SPSO added: “They then had to go through a lengthy complaints process, adding unnecessary strain at a deeply distressing time, despite clear opportunities to identify failings much earlier.”

The report added that radiology and oncology consultants had been asked about NHS Grampian’s actions and found that, while the first findings were “reasonable”, the health board failed to set up a review of the scan and a second opinion.

It also found an “unreasonable standard of communication”, with the health board failing to issue a fresh report after the second scan.

The report added that NHS Grampian had “reflected on their complaint handling” after the start of the investigation.

It said: “They apologised for the distress, noted their failings and set out the action they planned to take to address these issues.

“In light of this, we made no recommendation but asked the board to provide evidence of the actions taken.”

In the wake of the SPSO’s findings, NHS Grampian has apologised and pledged to improve how clinical information is shared and how it communicates with patients.

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Original source: gb