Ovarian cancer: Terminally ill woman blames health service for diagnosis delay

A terminally ill Dundonald woman says a delay in her cancer diagnosis is down to faults within the healthcare system.

Christine Campbell was told she had stage-four high grade ovarian cancer in April 2021.

The 57-year-old had waited five to six months for a gynaecology appointment after experiencing symptoms.

Two years later, in April 2023, she was told her cancer was terminal and she had less than a year to live.

Macmillan said the situation in relation to cancer care in Northern Ireland was catastrophic.

Ms Campbell started feeling unwell in November 2020.

She said, looking back, she was showing classic ovarian cancer symptoms; bloating, loss of appetite and fatigue.

It was only when she started to bleed after having already gone through the menopause that she suspected ovarian cancer.

After a GP examination she was told medics "were concerned"; she was sent to A&E where she was told she was being referred for a gynae appointment.

On a second visit to A&E she was given tablets to stop the bleeding and told "they would try and red flag the gynae appointment that had been requested".

She has since questioned whether she was in fact "red flagged".

She said she was told "it was given precedence but because of the pandemic the health system was trying to catch up with all their appointments and that it could have been four to six months down the line".

Weeks later Ms Campbell got a cancellation appointment.

The gynaecologist told her it was "not good news" and to go home, pack a bag and return to the Ulster Hospital.

"I just remember coming out of the consultation and sitting in the car and crying - I knew there was something wrong with me. Why did the hospital send me home?"

That evening the gynaecologist told Ms Campbell she had ovarian cancer.

"The fault lies in the system," she said.

"It doesn't lie with the health professionals who are doing a really great job in difficult circumstances.

"It was the delay in being seen by the GP.

"Also, the delay in having gone to A&E twice because the GP was so concerned about the condition that I was in and that not being followed up there and then.

"Would that have made a difference to my outcome? I'm not sure."

On Thursday the Department of Health (DoH) published the cancer waiting times for the quarter ending June 2023.

The latest figures show that during that quarter 1,371 patients in Northern Ireland started their first treatment following an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer.

Just over a third of these patients (506) began their first definitive treatment within 62 days.

This is a slight improvement from the previous quarter - from 35% to 37%.

The government's draft waiting-time targets for cancer care services in NI state that this figure should be at least 95%.

Richard Spratt of charity Cancer Focus NI said it was "time to get Stormont back so we can start to address the serious decline in prompt access to diagnoses and treatments".

"A look back at waiting times statistics over the last decade indicates a very worrying picture for the future," he said.

Figures show that between April 2023 and June 2023 2,435 people in Northern Ireland began their first treatment within 31 days of a decision to treat after being urgently referred with a suspected cancer.

This represents almost 88% of patients here but the government's target is for at least 98%.

The figure has changed little in the previous quarter, with a small increase (86%) from the same quarter last year.

In the same period, 70% of 3,457 patients were seen within 14 days by a breast cancer specialist following an urgent referral for suspect breast cancer.

This is down from 84% in the previous quarter but an increase from 52% in the same quarter last year.

The government's target is that all urgent breast cancer referrals should be seen within 14 days.

In the quarter ending June 2023 there were 6,784 new referrals for suspect breast cancer, of which 67.2% (4,557) were urgent.

Ms Campell said she was grateful to the person who cancelled their appointment as it might have been a totally different outcome for her.

"I may not have been sitting here having a discussion about waiting times and the service, which really at the minute is not fit for purpose, in my opinion," she said.

Once Ms Campbell was diagnosed, she said treatment moved quickly.

She had chemotherapy and debulking surgery but a few months ago was told she could not be cured.

Ms Campbell said she would like to think that if she was red flagged earlier things could have been different for her.

"I thought I would have two, five, 10 years in front of me. But now I don't."

In March 2022 the then health minister Robin Swann launched a cancer strategy to provide the strategic direction for the transformation of cancer services.

It was part of a 10-year health strategy aimed at delivering "top-class outcomes" for people with cancer in Northern Ireland.

Published when Stormont ministers were in office, it was widely recognised that its success depended on recurrent and sustainable funding.

There has been limited progress and Ms Campbell said it was too late to help her.

"We've no health minister and, for someone like me, I find that so frustrating that there's nobody there fighting my corner as a cancer patient," she said.

Sarah Christie, policy and public affairs manager at Macmillan Cancer Support in Northern Ireland, said cancer care in NI "is now little more than a toxic spiral".

"People feel let down by the system every step of the way. The situation is catastrophic," she added.

"Lack of governance has left our health system in tatters and people like Christine are being left to pay the price."