‘I would rather be poor’: man says money cannot compensate for partner’s death after failed cancer diagnosis | NHS

“I remember the doctor examined Helen and found a large lump in her colon and said ‘this is very bad, we need to bring you in for an examination’.”

Darren Rosheski remembers the moment a consultant doctor at Tameside hospital informed his partner Helen Dutton that her symptoms, including back pain and a change in blood and bowel habits, were so worrying that further tests were needed.

“I lost him because no one listened to him. The situation ended up being the GP not listening to him. They should have investigated him when he first came to the GP. Isn’t drawing blood a serious thing?”

Dutton’s family doctor, whom she saw in late 2016, determined her symptoms were signs of irritable bowel syndrome and hemorrhoids. The GP did not recommend any further action.

This proved to be a serious misjudgment. Dutton, a 35-year-old financial executive and mother of one, had already suffered from bowel cancer. However, the disease was not discovered until two years later, when she went back to her GP surgery to see a different doctor and was referred to Tameside hospital in Manchester. In January 2019, he underwent a physical examination, CT and MRI scans, and finally a colonoscopy, which confirmed the presence of a cancer that had begun to spread.

Three weeks later doctors at the Christie cancer hospital in Manchester told Dutton that he had advanced rectal cancer (a type of bowel cancer) and was already at stage 4. He underwent all three main cancer treatments: chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. In June 2020, he was told everything was fine. But his cancer returned just two months later and, tragically, he died a year later, in August 2021, aged 40.

The GP’s failure to refer Dutton for tests when he first encountered his symptoms proved disastrous for his chances of survival, and also very costly for the NHS. Tradesman Rosheski hired Irwin Mitchell lawyers to sue the NHS over errors in his partner’s care. He settled out of court in January for an undisclosed sum. She and her daughters were financially dependent on Dutton. The NHS denied liability.

“I would rather be poor and have Helen still around. A family was destroyed because of a doctor’s negligence. I don’t care about compensation. I wish she were here now,” he said. Since Dutton’s death five years ago, both she and her daughters have suffered serious mental health problems. Her diagnosed PTSD and complicated grief mean she has only worked for a month since.

Rosheski told his story as new figures today revealed the NHS in England paid out almost £190 million to resolve 870 claims involving misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of cancer in the last five years. Total costs, including legal fees, increased from £32 million in 2020/21 to £41.3 million in 2024/25.

Olivia Boschat, a solicitor at Bolt Burdon Kemp, said: “These figures are truly worrying because they reveal that mistakes by NHS clinicians, such as misdiagnosing cancer or taking too long to diagnose, are having devastating consequences for people’s health and lives.”

“It is extremely distressing to learn that 870 people received such poor experiences of cancer care from the NHS that they or their loved ones were forced to sue over errors that were extremely damaging and in some cases fatal.

“Behind these figures lies heartbreak, tragedy and, in some cases, lives cut short; lives that could have been saved were ended prematurely due to errors and negligence,” added Boschat, an expert in medical negligence.

Boschat said the difficulties patients may face in accessing what are supposed to be urgent cancer tests on the NHS are often a significant factor in such cases. “Some delays in diagnosis are inevitable because doctors need time to rule out other possible diagnoses, while others occur because symptoms are missed, necessary tests are not done quickly enough, or results are overlooked or not acted upon promptly.

“The consequences can be devastating. Delays can allow the cancer to spread, meaning more aggressive treatment is needed, and in the worst cases, it can become untreatable, with life-changing or fatal consequences.”

Bolt Burdon Kemp obtained the figures using a freedom of information request to NHS Solution, the body that handles medical negligence claims against the health service.

It shows the NHS resolved 171 such cases last year; This number is lower than in each of the previous three years. Despite this, the average cost of resolution proceedings has increased over the last five years from £199,896 in 2020/21 to £241,705 in 2024/25; This is an increase of 20%.

Boschat believes this increase reflects the fact that delayed cancer diagnosis, especially among young people, leads to increasingly greater harms for the patients involved, such as having to undergo more aggressive treatment or impairing their ability to have children.

Since December 2020, the NHS has failed to meet its target of starting urgent cancer treatment within 31 days of a patient and doctor agreeing a treatment plan. Since December 2015, he has failed to meet his target of starting treatment within two months of receiving an urgent referral for suspected cancer to a hospital.

Guy Forster, President of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, said: “Some victim survivors need additional care, therapies and specialist equipment, for example if a delay in diagnosis means they experience mobility or incontinence problems.

“Some will be unemployed for long periods of time. The lives of those who lose loved ones as a result of the delays will be disrupted, and spouses and children may be deprived of the practical, emotional and financial support they rely on.”

The Department of Health and Social Care did not directly respond to rising payment costs due to failed cancer diagnoses, but acknowledged errors could happen.

“Early and accurate diagnosis is key to effective cancer treatment. This has not happened in a sufficient number of cases and this government is committed to tackling this problem,” a spokesman said.

“But we are making progress. Last year, 82,000 more people were given a timely diagnosis of suspected cancer or were told all was well than the year before.

“Through Jess’s rule, we are supporting GPs to take a ‘new look’ approach to cancer detection and our national cancer plan will provide GPs with digital tools to spot and flag symptoms or test results earlier,” they added.