19 June 2009
University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust is to launch
an independent, external review into pathology services at the
Trust following allegations of 15 cases of misdiagnosis in
histopathology between 2000 and 2008.
Dr Jonathan Sheffield, Medical Director at University Hospitals
Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, says: I am confident about the
quality of our pathology services and there is no evidence to
confirm a significant error rate. However, I take any
allegations over clinical performance extremely seriously and
therefore this review is necessary to reassure patients and the
public that they can have confidence in our pathology services.
The Trust has taken advice from the Royal College of
Pathologists. On their advice, the Trust will carry out an
independent audit of cases from a recent years workload. 3,500
randomly selected cases from 2007 will be re-examined. The
Trust deals with an average of 18,000 to 19,000 cases each year, so
this represents almost one in five cases for that year. Each case
will be checked by two independent specialist pathologists. This
will establish if there is a significant error rate and identify
any areas of concern.
Pathology and histopathology are areas of complexity subject to
variation of opinion and interpretation between reporting doctors,
as indicated by the published professional guidance from the Royal
College of Pathologists.
The audit is expected to take at least 10 weeks. When it
has been completed, the results will be published and the Trust
will take further advice from the Royal College of Pathologists to
establish if further action is needed.
The Trust has informed the Care Quality Commission and Monitor,
the independent regulator for Foundation Trusts, of the actions
that it is taking to assess these allegations.
Ends
For more information see the list of questions and
answers - Histopathology review June 2009
