'I lost my daughter after GP failed to notice cancer'

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Mike Sams, whose 26-year-old daughter Nikki died of cervical cancer, said a "catalogue of unforgivable errors" cost her her life.

Miss Sams's GP, Dr Navin Shankar, 59, who treated her at a health centre in Luton, is being investigated by the General Medical Council. Miss Sams only found out she had cervical cancer after switching doctors following years of complaints to Dr Shankar.

The GMC has already heard he did not perform an abdominal or internal examination or send her to hospital, despite her complaints of intermenstrual bleeding. It also found Dr Shankar, who had treated the advertising saleswoman from Luton between 1999 and 2005, failed to keep adequate records.

A performance assessment of the GP is now being carried out, and the GMC will then decide whether sanctions should be taken against him.

Miss Sams's new doctor immediately recommended a smear test, which revealed abnormal cells, and tests at Luton and Dunstable hospital found a tumour on her cervix. She had a hysterectomy and began radiotherapy, chemotherapy and brachytherapy. She was initially given the all-clear but the cancer returned and spread to her spine, neck and lungs and she died in August 2007.

Mr Sams, 54, a former Luton airport worker, said she suffered "the worst pain of her life" as she was treated at Mount Vernon Hospital cancer centre in Northwood: "Nikki was so brave, she never complained or said, 'Why Me?' but she died unnecessarily. I brought up Nikki as a single parent and we were so close. This has torn our family apart."

"It is unbelievable that in this day and age a girl can go to her doctor so many times complaining about these symptoms and be sent away."

In 2005 the GMC found Dr Shankar guilty of serious professional misconduct after he dismissed the case of a baby with a blocked artery. He was suspended, but last year the GMC allowed him to return to unrestricted practice.