AFTER a two year legal battle, a Lymm man finally feels he has a form of justice after his mother’s bowel cancer was misdiagnosed.

Significant costs have been paid to Peter McLeish and his family in an out of court settlement after they accused consultant surgeon David Jones, from Lymm, of negligence.

Mr McLeish’s mum Irene was referred to Wythenshawe Hospital suffering from bowel pain in 2003.

She was discharged after being told she had diverticular disease, which is similar to irritable bowel syndrome, but in 2006 she was referred back to Mr Jones and a scan detected a large tumour.

The grandma-of-two, who lived in Timperley, had chemotherapy but the cancer was so advanced the treatment failed and she died, aged 65, in February 2008.

Mr Jones told the family that their mum had failed to respond to a letter inviting her to a follow up appointment, which she said she never received.

As a result Mr McLeish, aged 46, approached solicitors in the hope of putting a case together against Mr Jones and the hospital, which is managed by the University Hospital of South Manchester Trust.

Expert independent medical reports found Mr Jones had acted negligently and were sent to Manchester County Court before the case was settled out of court.

The report said: “It seems improbable that a competent consultant surgeon exercising all reasonable skill and care would have missed the tumour that must have been there to be seen.”

Irene, who had two sons, has been described by her family as a ‘lovely, warm, caring lady’ who is ‘deeply missed’.

Mr McLeish added: “As a family, we pursued this case to a successful completion.

“Our long held suspicion that an NHS consultant acted negligently while treating my mother has now been accepted by the NHS, based on very detailed, condemning reports from independent medical expert examiners of the case.

“We read about negligence in our UK hospitals too often and now we feel satisfied that a specific consultant has been identified and the neglect allegations have been accepted by his employer NHS Primary Care Trust.

“We feel it is in the public interest that negligent practitioners within our NHS are identified and are not allowed to hide or attempt to cover-up their errors, as happened in this case.”