Top surgeon says cancer death of nurse, 35, wrongly given the all-clear was ‘wholly avoidable’ and she might have survived if bosses at the hospital where she worked had acted on his warnings four years earlier

A surgeon has admitted a nurse whose ovarian cyst turned out to be cancerous could have survived if his warnings had been passed on.

Philip Toon, then senior gynaecological oncologist, yesterday told an inquest how he feared a cyst on one of the nurse’s ovaries may have been cancerous four years before she died.

He recommended her right ovary and fallopian tube should be removed when reviewing her case in November 2012 as she awaited treatment, although he had not seen her in person.

Mr Toon was worried the amount of blood flow to the cyst may be an indicator of cancer – but an inquest heard he only wrote a note on her records and did not discuss his concerns in person with the surgical team who eventually operated on Mrs Jones the following July.

Although Mrs Jones herself wanted the ovary and fallopian tube removing, the team at Wrexham Maelor Hospital, in North Wales, acted only to remove the cyst, not wanting to affect her fertility.

Louis Browne KC, barrister for Mrs Jones’s husband David and family, said to Mr Toon: ‘Something has broken down in the chain of communication between 2012 and 2013?’

Mr Toon replied: ‘Yes.’

Mr Browne then asked: ‘Had the procedure you identified been performed, this lady wouldn’t have died of cancer?’

Mr Toon said: ‘That’s a possibility, yes.’

Lastly, Mr Browne asked: ‘So that breakdown in communication has had a catastrophic effect in this case?’

Again, Mr Toon answered: ‘Yes.’

The surgeon, now retired, added that had he been aware that his recommendation was not followed, he would have asked Mrs Jones – a nurse at the hospital where she was treated – to return for further consultation.

He said: ‘I would have brought her back to clinic. We would have discussed further options, which would have been further ultrasound or removing the ovary.’

Instead, no follow-up appointment took place for Mrs Jones until the cyst recurred in 2016 and she was readmitted to hospital with severe abdominal pain and swelling.

In June 2016, Mr Toon carried out a full hysterectomy on Mrs Jones, removing an enormous cyst weighing 2.5kg (5 ½ lbs), which was cancerous.

Mr Toon said there were ‘no other signs’ of cancer after he carried out the hysterectomy – despite the condition being re-diagnosed only three months later.

The surgeon was giving evidence at the inquest into Mrs Jones’s death, which opened in Ruthin, yesterday.

Mr Browne suggested there was a ‘failure to remove all the cancerous tissue’ during the hysterectomy, which Mr Toon denied.

He described Mrs Jones’s death ‘wholly avoidable’.

The hearing began with a statement from Mrs Jones’s mother, Susan Corness, which was read by Denbighshire Coroner, John Gittins.

Mrs Corness said her ‘life fell apart’ as a result of her daughter’s death on November 10, 2016 – just a fortnight before her 36th birthday.

Referring to the 2013 operation, Mrs Corness said: ‘Catherine said she was fine having an ovary removed because she wasn’t going to have children anyway.

‘After the operation, Catherine was told they wouldn’t remove an ovary in someone so young.’

Mrs Corness told how her daughter returned to hospital in 2016 for the surgery under Mr Toon.

After the operation, Mrs Jones was given the all-clear but a follow-up check in September found the cancer had returned in the left abdominal cavity.

In October 2016, Mrs Jones was brought back into hospital by her mother ‘in pain’ and ‘bleeding’ – where she remained for three weeks until she died.

Mrs Corness said her daughter had ‘concerns with her treatment’. She contracted an infection in hospital and was told she could not have chemotherapy until she had recovered, the inquest heard.

‘She wanted to have the chemotherapy and live,’ her mother said.

‘Her father and I have deep issues regarding the care she received.’

Mrs Corness – who revealed her daughter was born after she and her husband had spent five years trying for a baby – said she was ‘the most precious thing we ever had’.

‘Not a day goes by that I do not think about Catherine,’ Mrs Corness added.

Paying tribute to her daughter, Mrs Corness said she ‘loved her job’ and was ‘such a bubbly personality’, whose interests ranged from travelling to baking and live music.

Handing a photograph of his wife to Mr Gittins from their wedding in 2010, Mr Jones, a 45-year-old chartered engineer, described his late wife as a ‘beautiful soul’.

He has previously described his wife as ‘an incredible, kind and loving person who saved lives and made everybody smile’.

Mr Jones has spent the last seven years fighting Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB), which runs the hospital, to learn the truth about his wife’s care.

The inquest, due to last at least four days, continues.