Nine patients' lung cancer diagnoses delayed: HSE

Nine patients in Drogheda and Navan hospitals had their diagnosis of lung cancer delayed as a result of radiological missed diagnosis between August 2006 and August 2007, the Health Service Executive has revealed.

The misdiagnoses were revealed as part of a HSE review of chest X-rays and CT scans reported by a locum consultant radiologist at hospitals in Louth and Meath. Examinations of 4,936 patients were reviewed.

The HSE report was published today.

Eight of the nine affected patients are now dead. Health Minister Mary Harney has expressed her sympathies to the families of the deceased patients.

As a result of this review, the HSE, the Department of Health and the Faculty of Radiology of the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland are to develop an agreed protocol and guidance around complaints of error in radiology, the minister said.

"It is important that we have expert guidance on when reviews are necessary, how they should be carried out and what can be achieved by them," she said.