Skin cancer patient sues NHS Warrington for £300k (From This Is Cheshire)

Skin cancer patient sues NHS Warrington for £300k

1:00pm Thursday 11th March 2010

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A CANCER patient’s life was ‘grossly reduced’ after doctors failed to tell him he had a malignant and invasive melanoma, a court writ claims.

As a result Allan Wyatt, aged 41 and now living in Devon, is suing NHS Warrington for up to £300,000 for clinical negligence after getting depression and being unable to work.

In June 2004 Mr Wyatt visited his GP at Causeway Medical Centre, Wilderspool, after he developed two moles on his back and shoulder.

Mr Wyatt had a consultation with practice nurse Sylvia Gillicker, who examined the moles and advised they be removed.

On August 12 the moles were removed and sent for assessment. Mr Wyatt was told he would be informed if there were any problems but not to contact them otherwise.

Because he was about to move to France, Mr Wyatt called his practice in late August. A woman told him, without referring to records, that if he had not heard anything then ‘everything was all right’.

Later in August the practice received the results of the assessment from North Cheshire Pathology Services, which revealed Mr Wyatt had an invasive malignant melanoma.

The report was seen by Dr Yvonne Douglas, a partner at the practice, who instructed staff to file the report.

No further contact was made with Mr Wyatt and he only became aware of the diagnosis when he visited his new GP in Devon in July 2008, the writ says.

The doctor looked through Mr Wyatt’s records and noted reference to the melanoma and immediately fast-tracked him to the dermatological department of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.

He had developed a stage four malignant melanoma with metatarsis in the lung and has since undergone a catalogue of operations, including the removal of the melanoma, which left him in severe pain and requiring skin grafts.

Since then Mr Wyatt has developed further moles on his shoulder and side and an anomaly on his right lung.

Had he been told of the melanoma he would have accepted and received surgery and, on the balance of probabilities, would have been successfully treated, he claims.

When Mr Wyatt discovered the GP’s error he was working as an IT hardware broker but other than a brief casual job he has not worked since treatment began.

Mr Wyatt asked the High Court to deal with this claim in the same way as it would deal with cases relating to mesothelioma, cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.

NHS Warrington said it was fully aware of the case, but was unable to comment due to patient confidentiality.

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