A woman received "several months" of unnecessary chemotherapy after a botched tissue biopsy at Whangarei Hospital.
The incident was revealed after the Health Quality and Safety Commission released its annual report of serious adverse events at District Health Boards.
The number of these reported events at Northland DHB was 15 in the 2013/14 financial year, six more than the previous 12 months. Chief medical officer for the DHB, Dr Michael Roberts, said he was "very disappointed" when he learned of the botched biopsy result "There was a lady who received some chemotherapy which she didn't need because when the tissue for her cancer was looked at under the microscope [it was misread]," Dr Roberts said. The mistake was only discovered after the breast cancer patient received "several months" of additional chemotherapy, he said. The doctor treating her thought something was not right and had the biopsy reassessed, which was when the mistake was discovered. The DHB apologised to the patient, who did not make a formal complaint.
"She was very, very keen to make sure that people learnt from it and to make sure that it didn't happen again," Dr Roberts said.
"Our target is zero harm to all patients and we continue to work hard to deliver high-quality, safe healthcare to Northlanders."