South-east Qld hospital might have misdiagnosed 1000 cancer patients

The Queensland government will investigate how about 1000 patients might have been misdiagnosed during cancer screenings at a hospital in the state's south-east.

More than a dozen patients at Redland Hospital have been diagnosed with bowel cancer after concerns a doctor might have missed early clinical signs of disease more than a year ago.

The NSW doctor had conducted endoscopy and colonoscopy procedures on about 1500 patients, all older than 50, at the hospital between 2012 and 2018.

Fourteen Redland Hospital patients have been diagnosed with bowel cancer after concerns a doctor might have missed early signs of disease.Credit: Google Maps

The screening procedures allow doctors to detect and potentially treat early bowel or upper gastrointestinal issues before they develop further.

While Queensland Health believes there was no suggestion any direct harm was caused at the time of the original procedure, the doctor might have missed early clinical signs of disease.

Queensland Health Director-General John Wakefield said he established a team to investigate the issue after he was notified of the incident in December.

Queensland Health Director-General John Wakefield (left), pictured with Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles, said "none of these practices are perfect".Credit: Jocelyn Garcia

"At this stage, the focus of the minister and ourselves was dealing with the patients, making sure that every patient knows and that we're looking after the needs of the patients," he said.

"We don't know at this stage, and it would not be right for me to speculate, what anybody's rationale was.

"Humans are involved. None of these practices are perfect but there’s a sort of norm that we would look to."

Dr Wakefield could not answer why it took more than a year for Queensland Health to act.

The alarm was raised after another practitioner questioned the thoroughness of the doctor after a patient had a cancerous bowel lesion that should have been flagged during a screening.

Metro South immediately suspended the doctor from undertaking endoscopy and colonoscopy procedures and referred the matter to the Health Ombudsman.

The matter was then referred to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

However, 14 of about 450 of the patients who were most at risk and had the procedures repeated by different clinicians found they had early interval or missed cancers or unexpected significant issues.

About 1000 other patients were being contacted to repeat a cancer check, with the re-screenings expected to be done by March.

The doctor in question continues to work in Queensland and NSW hospitals but had not been able to perform such procedures in Queensland since 2018, after recommendations from the AHPRA.

"If we find that there’s any significant likelihood that any of those cancers could be attributed to that doctor, we will move into work and support those patients by way of some sort of compensation,” Dr Wakefield said.

Health Minister Steven Miles has ordered the chair of Metro South Health Services to commission a full independent investigation.

He said the priority was to ensure the patients repeated their procedure.

LNP health spokeswoman Ros Bates said it was unacceptable that 1000 patients were being offered new cancer checks 15 months after problems were detected.

"As a nurse, I know how crucial cancer screening is and my own mother’s cancer was detected by a colonoscopy," she said.

"The failure to notify patients with potential cancers is catastrophic."