3 hours agoShareSaveMarie-Louise ConnollyHealth correspondent, BBC News NIShareSaveA County Antrim GP has said she is “hugely concerned” for women who need breast cancer treatment in Northern Ireland after three patients in her surgery received late cancer diagnoses.The patients are among 32 women in the Notting Hill Medical Practice, based in the Northern Trust, who were red-flagged within a five-month period this year.The three women, who have asked for their identities to be protected, had to wait more than eight weeks to be seen by a consultant, while nine others are still waiting, one for more than 10 weeks.Health Minister Mike Nesbitt apologised but Dr Jilly O’Hagan told BBC News NI the wait is “traumatic”.Speaking on the Nolan Show, the health minister said he cannot ask people to be patient as it is “potentially a matter of life and death”. “I say sorry, I say I would like to assure you that I take it personally, I want to try and assure them that I am working with officials, with clinicians, with health and social care workforce to try and fix this,” he said. “The pathways are broken, and I don’t accept people who say the health service is broken because once you get to treatment your treatment by and large is first class.”The problem is how you get a timely access pathway to get that care.”One of the women said she has been in limbo for months and “just wants the cancer out”.She said that after being told there were more than 80,000 women in front of her on the waiting list, she paid for a private diagnosis which confirmed she had stage two breast cancer.The woman said she is “furious” about the delay and is feeling the strain mentally and physically.Dr O’Hagan said such failings are not happening in England, Scotland and Wales and asked why women in Northern Ireland should be getting a “substandard service”.”The new regional breast cancer service is not functioning – there is a bottleneck, they are not meeting the targets for women who are red-flagged,” Dr O’Hagan said. “It never used to be like this, it’s not working.”Red-flag referralA red-flag referral means a GP believes the patient should be treated as a high priority for suspected cancer based on specific clinical symptoms outlined in the Northern Ireland Cancer Network (NICaN). These referrals are the highest priority for waiting lists, and patients should ideally be seen by a specialist within two weeks.After a diagnosis, there is a 62-day target for treatment to start.Between April to June 2025, about 840 patients (67%) waited longer than 62 days to start treatment for cancer following an urgent GP referral for suspected cancer.Getty ImagesA woman in the Southern Trust area who has stage four breast cancer said all the “faffing around between various health trusts and hospitals” delayed her diagnosis.In her early 40s, she said she is an “emotional wreck” after being told different outcomes between different health trusts.”My care has been inadequate, not joined up and impersonal,” she said.In June, the woman first felt what she described as like a “pull” …
