A Watford mother is dying from breast cancer after an NHS trust failed to detect the disease when it was still treatable, a government inspector has ruled.

Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman Julie Mellor said the 41-year-old woman’s life has been cut short because of the serious failings of West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust.

The trust was forced to pay £70,000 compensation, review its cancer procedures and ordered to apologise to the woman known as 'Ms G'.

Samantha Jones, the trust's Chief Executive, said: "We clearly failed Ms G and I have offered her my personal and sincerest apologies, and offered to meet with her.

"We accept in full all of the ombudsman’s recommendations and they have acknowledged we have made the necessary changes to help prevent this from happening again."

Watford MP Richard Harrington said he was "very shocked" and "extremely angry on behalf of the family". He added that he had sought assurances from Ms Jones about cancer care.

The ombudsman’s damning report ruled St Albans City Hospital’s breast clinic failed to undertake the appropriate tests to rule out cancer during Ms G’s follow-up appointment in May 2010.

When the mother-of-one returned to the clinic in December 2011, biopsies revealed she had advanced inoperable breast cancer and secondary cancers of the liver, brain and bone.

The ombudsman ruled that had Ms G’s cancer been detected and treated in 2010, it is unlikely it would have been terminal.

Ms G has lived with the illness for more than a year and lost her job as she feels too unwell to work due to the intense treatment she received at Watford General Hospital.

Ms Mellor said: "A mother has had her life cut short because of the serious failings by West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust to carry out the necessary tests to rule out breast cancer.

"They missed vital opportunities to diagnose the cancer and begin treatment.

"This is a very sad example of what can go wrong when doctors and trusts don’t carry out the necessary and proper diagnoses and tests, and the terrible impact it can have on someone’s life.

"Doctors and hospitals must understand and learn from complaints. There needs to be a cultural shift in the NHS where staff are encouraged to be open when things go wrong and to admit to mistakes.

"Only when listening and learning are truly embedded into an organisation’s culture will we see the improvements we need for a better and safer NHS for all."

The ombudsman also discovered the breast specialist failed to make Ms G aware of the importance of attending the follow-up appointment and the potential serious cause of the illness.

The trust was found to have discharged Ms G without making her or her GP aware of the seriousness of the situation.

The government inspector ordered the trust to pay Ms G £70,000 for the "pain, suffering, additional medical treatment and distress over a lengthy period caused by the service failure and the exasperation produced by the way it handled her complaint."

The ombudsman said mechanisms must be put in place to ensure measures are taken to protect patients when risks have been identified and patients like Ms G are aware of the importance of attending appointments.

The trust was also ordered to make a "full and sincere apology" and share information about the investigation with the current employer of the doctor who failed to carry out the checks, so she can "learn".

Ms Jones said the trust had already paid the compensation and had carried out a major review of its cancer services.

This included a new system for tracking patient care, weekly meetings to review referrals and enhanced training for doctors.

She added the trust had also changed the way it informs patients and their GPs about follow-up appointments and the seriousness of their condition.

The trust was found to have breached national guidelines in a report released earlier this year by not always giving patients who missed their first appointment a follow-up.

About 130 people with suspected breast cancer were also forced to wait more than the two-week government guidelines for seeing a specialist between January and July this year.