Mr T had a lump in his mouth. He visited the dentist, who said that he would refer Mr T to a specialist. However, the dentist failed to send the referral form. This led to delays in Mr T being seen by a specialist. He was subsequently diagnosed with cancer.
What happened
Mr T and his dentist agreed that the lump in Mr T's mouth was suspicious and should be seen by a specialist. The dentist failed to follow guidelines and did not make the referral correctly.
Mr T contacted the dentist again after five weeks because he was finding it difficult to eat and he had not received an appointment to see the specialist. The dentist then sent a routine referral to the hospital. Mr T received an appointment but it was two months away. As his symptoms were becoming worse and the hospital could not bring forward the appointment without contact from the dentist, Mr T visited the dentist again. This time an urgent referral was made and he received a hospital appointment soon after. Following tests, Mr T was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour.
What we found
The dental records were of a poor standard and did not record findings about Mr T's clinical presentation or symptoms. However, from the records that were available, Mr T's account and the eventual diagnosis, we were able to state that on the balance of probabilities, the dentist should have made an urgent referral to a specialist under National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.
There were failings in the way the dentist dealt with the referrals. He simply did not send the first referral. The second referral asked for a routine appointment. This was not in line with relevant guidelines for suspected cancer.
These failings resulted in a delay of ten to 11 weeks in Mr T seeing a specialist. It is likely, therefore, that his diagnosis of cancer would have been made earlier. We found that Mr T suffered unnecessary pain and distress because of the failings by the dentist.
Putting it right
The dental Practice acknowledged the failings in the delayed urgent referral and apologised to Mr T and paid Mr T £2,500 in recognition of the failings and the pain and distress he suffered.
It also formulated an action plan to address the failings around the poor record keeping.
A dental practice
Cumbria
Did not apologise properly or do enough to put things right
Did not take sufficient steps to improve service
Apology
Compensation for non-financial loss
Recommendation to learn lessons or draw up an action plan