Trust failed to act on another Trust's diagnosis of possible pancreatic cancer

What happened

Mr W was diagnosed with suspected pancreatic cancer by Trust A in late 2011 and was referred to Trust B for treatment. Trust B conducted its own tests, but did not treat Mr W for the suspected cancer. Mr W continued having tests in early 2012, and at the end of a two-month period Trust B confirmed that Mr W had pancreatic cancer. The Trust said that it intended to operate in approximately two weeks' time but unfortunately, by then, Mr W was too jaundiced to have the operation. The next month, when his jaundice had improved, Mr W was too frail to have the operation. The Trust referred him for chemotherapy but it was too late to treat him, and he died in summer 2012.

Mrs W complained to Trust B that it had delayed treating her husband despite the diagnosis from Trust A. She was unhappy with the Trust's response and the way that it had handled her complaint and so she complained to us.

What we found

We partly upheld Mrs W's complaint. Trust B had ruled out Trust A's earlier suggestion of possible pancreatic cancer and instead concentrated on changes in the body and another part of the pancreas. It failed to act quickly enough on Mr W's symptoms. However, the outcome might have been the same even if Trust B had been quicker with Mr W's investigations.

While Trust B had apologised for its delay in dealing with Mrs W's complaint, we found that some of the information it gave her was confusing and contradictory. We therefore also partly upheld this aspect of Mrs W's complaint.

Putting it right

Trust B apologised for the failings we identified and the impact those failings had on Mrs W. It also paid Mrs W £1,500 in recognition that its failings denied Mr W the opportunity to be given the best chance of survival, and for the delay in providing a reasonable response to Mrs W's complaint.

It also completed an action plan that set out what it had learned from the failings.