The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Brosnan fined $1,500 for hike to Yellowstone thermal spring
Delayed or incorrect tests cost the health service at least £81m in damages and legal fees in two years
THE number of NHS patients suing over missed cancer diagnoses has increased by half in the past two years, statistics have revealed.
Incorrect or delayed cancer diagnoses have cost the NHS £81.5 million in damages and legal fees between April 2021 and March 2023 – or an average of £40.8 million a year – according to a Freedom of Information request by the Liberal Democrats.
This represents an increase of 64 per cent from an average of £24.9 million a year over the previous four years.
Sir Ed Davey said the figures were an example of “a system that’s going wrong”, in an interview with
ahead of the party’s Spring Conference this month.
The Liberal Democrat leader said he believed the party could repeat their general election success of 1997 under Paddy Ashdown – when they doubled their seats and had their highest number of MPs in almost 70 years.
The number of claims brought against the NHS for missed cancer diagnosis rose from a yearly average of 140 between 2017 and 2021 to 208 per year from 2021 to 2023 – a jump of 49 per cent. The Liberal Democrat leader said the figures reflected that there was no “success story” in the Government’s performance on cancer treatment, despite assertions that a record number of patients had been treated over the past two years. “If we really had a success story, I think the Government would be trumpeting it rather more loudly. We don’t,” he said.
The party has pledged to invest in 200 new radiotherapy machines to tackle the delay in treatment, and to recruit 3,400 more cancer nurses.
Pledges to reform the NHS, with a specific focus on cancer care, are central to the offering of the Liberal Democrats for the upcoming election.
Sir Ed said that “wherever we go, the NHS is the biggest issue for the vast majority of people” – including voters in Scotland and rural parts of England.
“Traditionally ‘True Blue’ people are feeling they’re let down,” he added, which meant that a “chunk” of Tory voters were turning to his party instead.
A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “The NHS has seen and treated record numbers of cancer patients over the last two years and cancer is being diagnosed at an earlier stage, more often. In addition, thanks to innovations in technology and treatment, cancer screening programmes, and measures to help people quit smoking, survival rates are improving across almost all types of cancer.”
They pointed to the £2.3billion invested into a network of local community diagnostic centres to improve cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment.
PIERCE BROSNAN has been forced to pay more than $1,500 (£1,175) after he pleaded guilty to hiking in a closed off part of Yellowstone National Park.
The ex-James Bond star was caught after posting pictures of himself at the out-of-bounds thermal springs to his Instagram page, court records show.
A photo of Brosnan in the national park surfaced on an Instagram account mocking Yellowstone’s “tourons” (tourist morons).
It appeared to show him in sunglasses and a wide brim hat posing on the snowy ground by the thermal area.
Brosnan, 70, admitted during a court hearing on Thursday to breaking the rules and stepping off trail near the Mammoth Terraces geothermal hot springs in November. He had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges.
“As an environmentalist I have the utmost respect for and love of our natural world,” Brosnan said on Instagram.
“However, I made an impulsive mistake – one that I do not take lightly – when entering a thermal area covered in snow in Yellowstone National Park to take a photograph.
“I did not see a ‘no trespassing’ sign posted that warned of danger nor did I hike in the immediate area.
“I deeply regret my transgression and offer my heartfelt apologies to all for trespassing in this sensitive area.”
The actor called in to the hearing in Mammoth, Wyoming, where Magistrate Stephanie Hambrick accepted his plea and fined him $500 and ordered to make a $1,000 donation to Yellowstone Forever, a non-profit organisation that supports the park, by April 1.
Violations in the park are punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $5,000. While the springs make for beautiful photos, there are risks of burns from where acid rising from the ground can reach boiling temperatures.