A CHINGFORD pensioner has been paid £400,000 compensation after two doctors - including one at Whipps Cross University Hospital - failed to diagnose her with cancer.

The unnamed 71 year-old was awarded the money after the hospital and her GP admitted liability.

The woman - who has a form of bone cancer - went to her GP with serious upper back pain in 2003, but was wrongly diagnosed as suffering from osteoarthritis and was not referred for further tests.

After gradually losing the use of her left arm and experiencing problems with her lower limbs - her GP eventually referred her for a non-urgent MRI scan.

When her symptoms continued to deteriorate, she referred herself to Whipps Cross Hospital in Leytonstone where she was seen by a junior doctor who failed to ask for a senior review or request an MRI scan.

The woman then suffered a fracture to her left arm and reduced sensation in both her legs.

Following a review by senior staff four days after admission, she was transferred to St Bartholomews Hospital where she was finally diagnosed as suffering from myeloma and began to receive the radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment she needed.

The hospital and the woman's GP initially denied liability - but eventually agreed to pay compensation ten days before the case was due to be heard.