A terminally-ill woman has been awarded £170,000 damages after medical staff at Medway NHS Trust failed to give her a mastectomy.

The woman, from Gillingham, developed untreatable liver cancer but surgery several years ago after breast cancer may have saved her life.

The trust has apologised and said it has reviewed procedure errors that were made at Medway Maritime Hospital.

The person, who does not want to be named, is said to be devastated.

She said: “It’s hard to believe it’s happened. They should follow procedures that are put down for them and that didn’t happen with me.”

Senior associate solicitor Shantala Carr, who specialises in medical negligence, assisted in the case on behalf of Canterbury-based legal firm Girlings Personal Injuries Claims.

Ms Carr said a mastectomy could have placed the woman in remission and a 1% chance of relapse. She said: “The mastectomy wasn’t given as an option to our client despite this being in national guidelines.”

She added that initially the trust offered £11,000 on the basis that it only admitted to a six-month delay in diagnosing the relapse. With regards to the treatment options,in particular the lack of offering a mastectomy, the trust made no admissions until mediation.

"No amount of money can compensate for the loss of a life."

But Ms Carr added that the settlement could help her client spend valuable time with her family.

Benn Best,executive director of clinical operations for planned care at Medway NHS Foundation Trust, said:“Since the events of this case, we have addressed the errors that were made with the clinicians who treated her, and have ensured that we have learned from what happened to improve the care we provide to other patients.

"All potential cancers are now subject to an alert system, where they are investigated thoroughly and promptly by a multi-disciplinary team of staff who specialise in the care of particular cancers.

“Our community can be reassured that we have worked hard to make the changes we needed to make after this case, and that the breast care team now provide a high quality, caring service to patients. ”

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