Meaford patients that may have been affected by errors made by a pathologist at the Grey Bruce Health Services Hospital in Owen Sound will be notified, as an investigation into the matter is ongoing.

Grey Bruce Health Services (GBHS) is notifying patients whose diagnosis or treatment might have been affected by errors discovered in the work of one of its three pathologists, Dr. Barry Sawka. Dr. Sawka stopped practicing in mid-February and continues not to practice at the hospital.

The high error rate was confirmed Wednesday evening in a report received by GBHS from external reviewers at London Health Sciences Centre, confirming findings of a GBHS internal review of Dr. Sawka's cases. The GBHS review was triggered in February following a routine quality assurance test that identified an error in one of Dr. Sawka's findings.

When further investigation indicated the error might not be an isolated one, Dr. Sawka was asked to voluntarily withdraw from practice immediately, and he did so. GBHS immediately initiated an internal review, with the hospital's two other pathologists reviewing 600 of Dr. Sawka's most recent cases, from 2007 and 2008.

"We're feeling very badly that we have an issue that put patients potentially at risk. We're going to alleviate the concerns as quickly as we can," said Pat Campbell, President and CEO of GBHS in an interview with The Express last week.

The investigation became front-page news across the region last week and was featured on national news broadcasts.

"It's a very difficult time for the hospital. This is a very significant and unusual event," said Campbell. "The people here pride themselves on providing excellent care," she said.

This review confirmed an error rate of six per cent compared to a literature-reported error rate for pathologists of one per cent. The review also found the errors have the potential to have altered the further investigation or treatment of patients and include missing cancer diagnoses. Approximately 30 per cent of a pathologist's workload involves determining a cancer diagnosis. GBHS is not aware of any deaths as a result of the errors.

"Grey Bruce Health Services offers its sincere apologies to patients and their families who have been affected by these errors or who will be anxious until they know whether or how they have been affected," said Pat Campbell, President and CEO of GBHS.

"Because of our commitment to patient safety and transparency, we are advising the public immediately after receiving external confirmation of the errors. We will work as quickly as possible to identify any other cases where errors may have been made," she said.

The hospital has started to contact patients whose cases were among the 600 involved in the internal review. The patients' physician or surgeon will determine necessary courses of action. The family physicians of the patients affected by the matter have been contacted by the hospital.

Dr. Sawka has been a pathologist at GBHS since 1994, evaluating approximately 3,000 cases a year for a total of approximately 40,000 during his tenure. Specimens from all these cases remain available for reevaluation.

GBHS will be undertaking an external review of the pathology reports completed by Dr. Sawka, beginning with the most recent cases. Because these patients have been treated for a problem quite recently, there is a higher likelihood they will benefit from any need to undergo further diagnostic tests or change their treatment.

GBHS is completing the list of the patients involved in those cases and will take the lead in notifying them, in writing, that their file is one of those being reviewed. If the external review confirms there is a clinically significant discrepancy in the results, the patient and the patient's family physician and specialist will be notified.

Patients who would like confirmation they are included in the review may call the hospital on its information line at 1-888-525-0553 or from the GBHS website, a link to which is provided. Patients will need to provide their date of birth and provincial health card number for identification to safeguard patient confidentiality.

GBHS has complete confidence in its two current pathologists and its laboratory staff who conducted the internal review. A pathologist who will start on May 14 will augment the two pathologists. Two other pathologists have committed to joining the staff in 2009. Until then, GBHS is seeking support from other hospital pathology departments to manage the workload.