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A woman waited two and a half months for test results on suspect moles only to be told her scans had been lost - and she may not be alone.
Mum-of-three Helen Palmer said she was "worried sick" by the prospect the jet black lumps might be cancerous after her GP told her back in February he was very concerned about them.
He promised she'd be seen at Medway Maritime Hospital within two weeks, as is the guarantee given by the NHS dermatology service, but it took a month for her to get an appointment.
A nurse at the Gillingham facility took high-resolution photos of the marks and told her a consultant would be in touch but after waiting more than seven weeks the 54-year-old was told her paperwork had got lost in the system and she'd have to go through the process again.
Now Medway Clinical Commissioning Group, which is responsible for dermatology services, has admitted there was an issue with the transfer of records between Medway Maritime Hospital and new provider DMC Healthcare which they are still working to resolve, meaning other patients could face similar situations.
Since DMC took on the contract at the start of last month scores of patients have complained of being on hold for hours as they desperately tried to contact the service to get new prescriptions or arrange appointments.
Others have said they were completely unaware about the change of provider.
Previously Medway Maritime looked after people with skin complaints, ranging from eczema to cancer, but it struggled with wait times and eventually shut down its department.
Mrs Palmer, who lives in Hempstead, said: “The nurse took these pictures which show the moles in minute detail and they looked absolutely horrific to be honest.
"She said she wasn’t allowed to tell me what she could see.
"I was worried sick thinking it was something cancerous... I had sleepless nights" - Helen Palmer
"I understand why that was but it just worried me more.
“I was worried sick thinking it was something cancerous. I had sleepless nights.
“I waited four weeks and then chased up but when I phoned the hospital they told me the service had moved.
"They could give me a number but no address. I tried to ring repeatedly but could not get through.”
She set a redial up and would drive home from work with the phone ringing for an hour.
"The situation went on for a couple of weeks with no response to repeat calls or emails.
Eventually she complained to the Clinical Commissioning Group, which is responsible for the service, and it informed her her records had been lost in the transition.
"It got her an appointment with a consultant at Balmoral Gardens, Gillingham, on Sunday and he told her one of the moles was harmless but another would need removing.
He couldn’t say when this would happen.
She added: “It’s ridiculous this should go on so long. I just want it gone now.”
Deputy managing director at Medway CCG, Stuart Jeffery, said: “We are extremely sorry for the situation Mrs Palmer finds herself in, which is clearly unacceptable.
“There were some issues with records being transferred.
"We are working hard with all parties to try to rectify this problem as quickly as possible.
“Patients with suspected cancer are prioritised and in future, should be seen within two weeks of an initial referral.”
He later revealed 30 patients had been in similar positions to Mrs Palmer and seven still were and said: "Although a missing result is one too many, I would like to reassure the public that the issues with missing dermatology scans relates to 30 people. We were made aware of a problem with the teledermatology system that Medway NHS Foundation Trust uses, which meant that around 30 patients’ records and images were temporarily inaccessible. Most of these have now been retrieved and although many of those were routine appointments, the images are now being reviewed by a consultant and patients will be written to early next week.
“Seven images are yet to be retrieved. The patients concerned are currently being contacted to be booked into an urgent face-to-face appointment at a clinic with DMC Healthcare.”
