A breast cancer survivor was forced to wait 10 agonising weeks for the results of her annual mammogram.

Liz Whitebread, 69, has now complained to the East Kent Hospitals Trust, who run the William Harvey Hospital, urging them to improve their systems.

She says: "I am not pursuing this for any purpose other than to get timely results for all breast cancer patients."

Mrs Whitebread, of Canterbury Road, Kennington, had a tumour from her breast removed in January 2012.

As part of her five-year monitoring, she now has mammograms, a type of X-ray that looks for very early breast cancers, once a year to check she is still in the clear.

She had no problems obtaining the results from her 2012 and 2013 scans.

However in 2014, she had to wait more than five weeks to get the results.

"The wait leaves you worrying if you have a problem, or that your results have fallen into a black hole" - Liz Whitebread

She sent a letter to her doctor about the delay, and in a reply he said he hoped a more robust system would be in place by the time of her next mammogram.

However, after Mrs Whitebread’s X-ray last November, she had to wait 10 weeks before the results came back in January this year.

She said: "The wait leaves you worrying if you have a problem, or that your results have fallen into a black hole.

"The worry causes stress which can lead to other medical problems.

"As a test for cancer , it should be back within two weeks."

Mrs Whitebread complained to Matthew Kershaw, the new chief executive of the trust in December, while she was waiting for her results, but received no reply.

She then wrote him again, this time sending her letter by recorded delivery, in February.

She adds: "How much longer would I have had to wait both from 2014 and 2015 mammograms if I had not written?

"Why was nothing done to speed up the results following my first complaint in 2014?

"A five-week wait is unacceptable. A 10-week wait is completely unacceptable."

A spokesperson for East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust said: "The experience of our patients is extremely important to us and we are very sorry that Mrs Whitebread has had to wait for the results of her scans.

"Actions are underway to ensure patients get their results faster, for example we are recruiting for a new radiology breast specialist which will mean we can work more quickly, and we are working to ensure our teams collaborate better to make sure all patients get their results in a timely way.

"We have spoken to Mrs Whitebread to apologise for this delay and would also like to apologise for the wait for the reply to her complaint, a response to which is being drafted as a matter of urgency to be sent as soon as possible."