This is the message that patients at Askern Medical Practice received on December 23 (Picture: Facebook)
Patients of a GP practice were informed they have ‘aggressive lung cancer’ in a mass text that was supposed to wish them a merry Christmas.
Askern Medical Centre in Doncaster is believed to have sent the message with the bogus diagnosis to hundreds of people on the afternoon of December 23.
This included some who were actually waiting for lung cancer test results, the Sun reported.
Chris Reed, of Norton, South Yorkshire, was reportedly one of the people who got the text message after being tested for lung cancer – causing his partner to burst into tears.
‘They went from, “You’ve got lung cancer” to “Merry Christmas” in about an hour. Unbelievable,’ the 57-year-old said.
He called Askern Medical a number of times, but found the phone lines were full.
Frustrated, the property developer rushed to the surgery to eventually be told the text was a mistake and his cancer results were, in fact, negative.
The surgery later sent a second message apologising for the error
Another patient, Vicky Southgate, was left ‘close to tears’ and ‘shaking’ after she read the message.
She wrote on Facebook: ‘Somethings clearly not right at Askern Medical Practice. I am fuming. I received this message and I am not the only one. I was shaking and close to tears.
‘Quite a few people in the surgery now with the same text. I was near the surgery and walked in to say “what the hell”. I am not the only one but people will now be worried if they have received this text.’
Another victim of the error, Kerry Marie, said she was left ‘raging’ after the ‘total shock and worry’.
‘My heart sank. Absolutely disgraceful,’ she stressed.
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It is yet unclear how many patients received the message, which read: ‘From the forwarded letters at CMP, Dr [redacted] has asked for you do a DS1500 for the above patient.
‘Diagnosis – Aggressive lung cancer with metastases. Thanks.’
Instead, the message was supposed to wish all the patients a merry Christmas.
A second one was sent some 22 minutes later, offering ‘sincere apologies’ for the error.
DS1500 is a form that people who are at the end of their life use to claim their benefits, while ‘metastases’ means a cancer has spread and is almost certainly incurable.
Metro.co.uk has contacted the practice for a comment.
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The message was supposed to wish patients ‘a very merry Christmas’.
