---
title: "Investigation finds 20 unnecessary mastectomies at County Durham and Darlington trust"
id: "bmj-2-mastectomy-scandal-twenty-women-had-unnecessary-procedure-at-trust"
canonical_url: "https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/bmj-2-mastectomy-scandal-twenty-women-had-unnecessary-procedure-at-trust"
content_type: "clinical_feed_article"
specialty: "Oncology"
source_name: "BMJ"
source_url: "http://www.bmj.com/content/394/bmj-2026-100918.short?rss=1"
published_at: "2026-09-21T10:36:21.000Z"
evidence_level: "Journal Feed"
license: "CC-BY-NC-4.0 / Informational Use"
---
# Investigation finds 20 unnecessary mastectomies at County Durham and Darlington trust
## Provenance & Clinical Metadata
- **Canonical URL:** https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/bmj-2-mastectomy-scandal-twenty-women-had-unnecessary-procedure-at-trust
- **Specialty:** [Oncology](https://medichelpline.com/clinical-feed/oncology.md)
- **Primary Source:** BMJ
- **Source URL:** [Original Journal Publication](http://www.bmj.com/content/394/bmj-2026-100918.short?rss=1)
- **Published At:** 2026-09-21T10:36:21.000Z
- **Evidence Rating:** Journal Feed
## Executive GIST (TL;DR)
- An internal investigation at County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust found that 32 women received **excessive surgery** for breast cancer when a wide local excision would have been appropriate. - Of those 32, the trust confirmed **20 women had mastectomies without clinical need**. - A review of more than 500 cases identified **delayed diagnosis** of breast cancer in 20 women. - The trust presented these findings in a briefing paper to its board. - An internal review of other affected patients is ongoing and includes people who contacted the trust through a helpline set up last year. - The report and article do not provide further details on patient outcomes, reasons for the surgical decisions, responsible clinicians, or corrective actions; those specifics were not reported in the source.
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[News & Views](https://www.bmj.com/us/news) 2. Mastectomy scandal:... 3. Mastectomy scandal: Twenty women had unnecessary procedure at trust, investigation finds News # Mastectomy scandal: Twenty women had unnecessary procedure at trust, investigation finds BMJ 2026; 394 doi: (Published 21 September 2026) Cite this as: BMJ 2026;394:e100918 * [Article](https://www.bmj.com/content/394/bmj-2026-100918 "Article Tab - Article")[](https://www.bmj.com/panels_ajax_tab/jnl_bmj_tab_art/node:1127985/1 "Article Tab - Article") * [Related content](https://www.bmj.com/content/394/bmj-2026-100918/related "Article Tab - Related Articles")[](https://www.bmj.com/panels_ajax_tab/jnl_bmj_tab_related_art/node:1127985/1 "Article Tab - Related Articles") * [Metrics](https://www.bmj.com/content/394/bmj-2026-100918/article-info "Article Tab - Info & Metrics")[](https://www.bmj.com/panels_ajax_tab/jnl_bmj_tab_info/node:1127985/1 "Article Tab - Info & Metrics") * [Responses](https://www.bmj.com/content/394/bmj-2026-100918/rapid-responses "BMJ Article Related Rapid Responses")[](https://www.bmj.com/panels_ajax_tab/bmj_related_rapid_responses/node:1127985/1 "BMJ Article Related Rapid Responses") * [Peer review](https://www.bmj.com/content/394/bmj-2026-100918/peer-review "Article Tab - Peer review")[](https://www.bmj.com/panels_ajax_tab/jnl_bmj_tab_peer_review/node:1127985/1 "Article Tab - Peer review") * [](https://www.bmj.com/content/394/bmj-2026-100918/submit-a-rapid-response "BMJ Rapid Responses Form")[](https://www.bmj.com/panels_ajax_tab/bmj_rapid_responses_form/node:1127985/1 "BMJ Rapid Responses Form") ![Loading](https://www.bmj.com/sites/all/modules/contrib/panels_ajax_tab/images/loading.gif) 1. Emma Wilkinson [Author affiliations](https://www.bmj.com/content/394/bmj-2026-100918.short?rss=1) 1. Sheffield, UK Twenty women had mastectomies unnecessarily while being treated for breast cancer at County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust, it has emerged. In a briefing paper presented to the board, the trust stated that 32 women received excessive surgery when a wide local excision would have been appropriate. Of these, 20 had a mastectomy without clinical need, the trust confirmed. Delayed diagnosis of breast cancer was also identified in 20 women during a review of more than 500 cases in response to serious failures of care at the trust. An internal review of other affected patients is ongoing. It includes those who came forward through a helpline set up last year, as well as … [View Full Text](https://www.bmj.com/content/394/bmj-2026-100918.full) ## Log in ### Log in using your username and password [BMA Member Log In](https://bmjverification.bma.org.uk/validate/userdetails?url=https%3A//www.bmj.com/content/394/bmj-2026-100918%3Frss%3D1%26variant%3Dshort%26sso%3D "Log in here if you are a BMA member.") 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