The medical files of as many as 10,000 patients could be reopened by investigators after 20 women were found to have had unnecessary mastectomies in a breast cancer scandal engulfing the NHS.
A review of cases going back a decade found hundreds more came to harm after being treated at County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust (CDDFT).
Victims told how they were left in agonising pain after being ‘butchered’ and ‘mutilated’ by surgeons at the trust’s ‘dysfunctional’ breast cancer unit.
CDDFT is now carrying out an internal review of breast cancer cases dating from January 2023 to February 2025, alongside the cases of 640 former patients who have contacted a dedicated helpline.
Of the 514 cases reviewed so far, 315 women have been found to have suffered harm, including 77 who were significantly harmed. One patient is known to have died.
The trust says cases have been identified where patients had ‘excessive surgery’, were subjected to outdated practices or where cancer diagnoses were missed or delayed.
Some of these patients subsequently saw their cancer spread.
The trust’s board is scheduled to meet next week to decide whether to extend the scope of the review to look at up to 10,000 cases dating back as far as 2015.
Consultant surgeon Amir Bhatti has been suspended from clinical practice while an internal investigation is carried out
Meanwhile, the National Crime Agency is working with Durham Police to investigate allegations by former patients and determine if any criminal offences took place.
Steve Russell, who became CDDFT’s chief executive last year, apologised ‘unreservedly’ for the harm caused.
Responding to the scandal, exposed by a BBC Local investigation, he added: ‘There are no words I could use to convey how personally distressed I am. What happened was utterly unacceptable.’
‘An apology won’t give me time back’
Denise Howarth is one of several women who have now been told by the NHS that their breast was removed unnecessarily.
The 51-year-old was diagnosed with grade 1 cancer in 2023 after discovering a lump.
She initially had a lumpectomy and then a mastectomy, as well as eight rounds of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
A call she received from the NHS in September 2025 was followed by a letter from County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust (CDDFT).
It said that Ms Howarth, of Consett, County Durham, could have been offered a second lumpectomy rather than full breast removal, but acknowledged the option was never discussed with her.
She told the BBC: ‘I was just in shock, then ended up in tears on the phone. It’s all good and well an apology, but that doesn’t give me the answers I need.
Denise Howarth was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023
‘It can’t give me my breast back. It can’t take time back. What is done is done.’
Pam Brown, of Durham, had a mastectomy in 2022 at Spire Hospital in Washington, where one of the outsourced private clinics was based. As far as she knows, her op was necessary but the physical and psychological scars deeply affected her.
The BBC showed photos of her scarring to former surgeon Liz
O’Riordan, who described them as ‘awful’. Surgeon Amir Bhatti was the consultant overseeing the care of both women.
Consultant surgeon Amir Bhatti, who was CDDFT’s clinical lead for breast cancer services from 2013 to 2024, has been suspended from clinical practice while an internal investigation is carried out – but he remains employed by the trust on full pay.
The trust spent nearly £6million over six years on breast cancer diagnostic clinics and surgery companies run privately by Mr Bhatti in what Mr Russell admits was a ‘conflict of interest’.
A 2025 review into the running of the trust, carried out by governance specialist Mary Aubrey, raised concerns about the arrangement.
She said there was a ‘clear financial incentive’ for Mr Bhatti’s firms to treat more NHS patients when it was paid per case, potentially creating a ‘risk to clinical standards’.
Consultants performed significantly more operations and consultations per session when they were acting in a private capacity than doing their usual NHS shifts, the review found.
Further concerns were raised last year in a report by the Royal College of Surgeons that said many breast cancer cases had not been discussed properly in multi-disciplinary team meetings, leaving surgeons to largely act as they pleased.
The trust also had a high rate of repeated procedures, low uptake of breast reconstruction immediately after a mastectomy and operations that may have been carried out ‘too quickly’.
The Aubrey Review also suggested patients were potentially treated by locum consultants who were not competent, and noted that Mr Bhatti had repeatedly raised concerns about trust delays in obtaining vital diagnostic equipment.
Mr Bhatti denied performing unnecessary mastectomies and blamed the NHS for paying £6million to his private clinics in just six years.
He refused to apologise to women who said they had been ‘mutilated’ under his care, and instead said of the unnecessary removal of breasts: ‘Nobody ever does anything like that.’
The Daily Mail approached Mr Bhatti at his large detached farm conversion in Hetton-le-Hole, near Sunderland, where a Range Rover Sport with a personalised numberplate sits on the drive.
Speaking via the speaker on a Ring doorbell, Mr Bhatti said he was out of the country, adding: ‘I can’t say anything because obviously it’s all under investigation and it is all in legal hands really. I wish I could say more.’
One of Mr Bhatti’s companies, Durham Surgical Services Ltd, currently has assets of more than £2.6million, accounts show.
Darlington Memorial Hospital is one of those overseen by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust (file pic)
CDDFT said that it is co-operating fully with the investigation by Durham Police and the National Crime Agency, and is sharing any information when requested.
The Department of Health and Social Care said its thoughts are with the women and families affected.
A spokesman added that it is not able to ‘comment further on those past failings while the current investigation is ongoing’.
The department also said that the North-East trust is ‘working urgently’ with NHS England, the Care Quality Commission and independent experts to address what happened ‘and to ensure that all future patients receive safe care’.
