Calls are growing to strip former NHS boss Sue Jacques of her OBE after it was branded a "slap in the face" for patients following a deacade of "systemic failure” on her watch.
Sue Jacques was chief executive of the County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust for more than ten years including when an investigation exposed systemic failures in the service, missed or delayed diagnoses, at least 20 needless mastectomies and hundreds of patients harmed.
Jacques received an OBE for NHS services in January 2025. Last week, The Northern Echo called for her to lose it after it emerged that red flags about the scandal date back to 2015.
Sue Jacques, former chief executive of the County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)
City of Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy previously said she "cannot comprehend" how an OBE can remain.
Now her colleague, North Durham MP Luke Akehurst, has called Jacques’s OBE “a slap in the face for patients who suffered and their families”.
He said: “Many of my constituents in North Durham have suffered appalling trauma and harm due to CDDFT’s breast cancer service. Their stories are heartbreaking.
"They deserve justice, and that includes the people at the top of the Trust during that period taking responsibility and showing full contrition for what happened on their watch.
"In these circumstances, the award of an OBE to the then CEO feels like a slap in the face for patients who suffered and their families, and I support the Echo’s campaign.”
Luke Akehurst, North Durham MP (Image: PARLIAMENT)
Patients have also condemned the former chief executive’s OBE as an “utter disgrace”.
Jackie Holmes’s daughter Michaela died aged 35 in 2009 after chemotherapy for breast cancer.
Jackie Holmes with a photo of her daughters Michaela and Amelia outside Prospect House in Durham (Image: Stuart Boulton)
Ten years later, her daughter Amelia Green was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019.
She is still waiting for answers about their care and wants the trust’s former chief executive to lose her OBE.
She said: "To be the top boss at a time when all of this was happening, she surely must have known about it.
"It's an absolute disgrace that they can mess up to that extent and then reward people who were at the very top of the Trust.
"I would back taking away her honour."
Jacques was in charge when a review found that repeated warnings about patient care had been ignored.
From left, Nedeen Lister and Jackie Holmes outside Prospect House (Image: Stuart Boulton)
Concerns had been raised for more than a decade before the scandal triggered a major investigation in 2024. Yet Jacques received an OBE in the King’s New Year Honours in January 2025.
The failures were mainly reported at University Hospital of North Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital.
An independent review examined 1,472 breast surgery cases from January 2023 to February 2025. Authorities may extend it back to 2015, potentially reopening up to 10,000 medical records.
Amir Bhatti (Image: SUBMIT)
Durham Police and the National Crime Agency are jointly investigating whether offences were committed in treating patients.
Affected patients and medical negligence specialists are calling for a full public inquiry into the trust’s “deep-rooted, systematic failures”.
Last week, City of Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy said she would write to Prime Minister Andy Burnham about the honour and urge him to speak to King Charles.
The Cabinet Office, which oversees honours, said: “We don't comment on individuals”.
Durham Police is investigating whether offences were committed, with help from the National Crime Agency.
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Amir Bhatti, the breast services clinical lead from 2013 to 2024, was barred from performing breast cancer surgery by the Trust in 2025. He remains employed and on full pay while on sick leave.
He challenged the restrictions in the High Court, but his case was rejected in May.
Almost £6 million was reportedly paid over six years to privately run breast diagnostic clinics and surgery companies linked to Mr Bhatti.