We will never know whether the lung cancer missed by hospital staff three years before a patient was eventually diagnosed could have been stopped from becoming terminal.

But the sad fact is that the patient involved is the cancer is now inoperable and the patient is terminally ill.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospital NHS Trust chief executive Matthew Kershaw has admitted not picking up the cancer earlier was a catastrophic clinical error and every effort has been made to ensure it does not happen again.

It is devastating for the patient and his relatives and friends, and it is absolutely vital the hospital trust does everything possible to make sure something like this does not happen again.

It is to the trust's credit that it is prepared to speak openly and honestly about what happened and it is to be hoped that every lesson is learned from this incident.