Cervical cancer: Eight women get cancer ‘after smear misread’

Eight women whose smear tests were misread by screeners developed cancer in a large review of cervical screening at the Southern Health Trust.

A further 11 slides of women examined were found to have pre-cancerous changes in their cells and had to undergo treatment.

All of these women had either precancerous changes in their cervix or another significant gynecological condition when their smears were reviewed.

Southern Health Trust has apologized to all those affected.

The review was initiated after three women were assessed as having a serious adverse event.

Two women, Lynsey Courtney and Erin Harbinson, have since died.

More than 17,000 individuals were contacted to have their smear tests retested.

A review of 13 years of cancer screening at a Southern health trust found many women failed when some screeners were underperforming and went unscrutinized by management for years.

Stella McLoughlin of the campaign group Ladies with Letters called what happened inexcusable and called for a public inquiry.

“It’s been a complete scam from start to finish and it’s been allowed to go on for 10 years,” he added.

“Smears are being misread, people are not being accounted for, screeners are not being managed properly – all of this is affecting real people.”

A review of cervical screening at the Trust looked at two different groups of women.

The first looked at cases of 207 women with prior cervical cancer.

The slides of the eight women who developed cancer in this group were reviewed.

The review found that if their tests had been read correctly, they could have been diagnosed and treated earlier.

The second group consisted of 17,425 women who were asked to return for a retest of their smears.

11 women currently undergoing non-cancer treatment were part of this group.

The trust said it could not conclude that the eight women had cancer because their smear tests had missed abnormalities.

In October 2023, the Southern Trust announced a retrospective review of cervical screening results from 17,425 women between 2008 – 2021.

The move came in response to an independent Royal College of Pathologists (RCPATH) report which found “persistent poor performance” in the work of some laboratory screeners.

BBC News NI can also reveal that one of the four screeners under review has been suspended, while the other has been placed on probation following hearings by the regulatory body, the Health and Care Professions Council.

In an interview with BBC News NI, the Southern Trust said it recognized it was a difficult time for all families and that the process had caused anxiety.

Medical director Dr. Steve Austin said the majority of slides checked were normal, but he acknowledged some women had different readings and had to undergo treatment as a result.

“We have learned from everything that has happened. HPV screening is now in place and laboratory services are now centralized in one place and other improvements have been made across the system,” Dr Austin said.

In February 2023, BBC News N.I Southern Trust breaks the cervical scandal. When he reported that a woman diagnosed with cervical cancer had three previous abnormal smear tests that were missed.

After the woman contacted and a whistleblower came forward with the information, BBC News NI also revealed that concerns had been raised about the performance of some screeners before 2022 and their work. To be reviewed.

The Southern Trust admitted there had been “failures” at the cervical testing lab, but said they extended beyond individual members of staff and reflected “wider system failures”.

Just under 94 per cent of the women identified took part in the review, with the trust identifying 513 patients who had moved outside of Northern Ireland.

Joanne McClean, director of public health at the Public Health Agency (PHA), said: “We apologize for all the pain and suffering and grief that has been caused to people.

He said that whether there should be a public inquiry or not, it depends on the health minister.

A highly critical report by the Royal College of Pathology found a “persistent failure” to deal with the poor performance of some cervical screening staff.

It said policies to deal with poor performance were below standard and the screening laboratory was not sustainable.

The college said that the action taken by the administration was inadequate for many years.

For the entire review period 2008 – 2021, Northern Ireland used cytology-based screening which involves making a slide from a smear test sample and looking at it under a microscope.

Cytology screening detects only three of four abnormalities.

In December 2023, Northern Ireland caught up with the rest of the UK when it introduced basic HPV screening which tests for the presence of the human papillomavirus (HPV) which is responsible for almost all cases of cervical cancer.

It is a more sensitive screening method and is expected to detect nine out of 10 abnormalities.

The findings will now undergo an independent expert review, which will be launched immediately by Alan Wilson, a senior biomedical scientist at NHS Lanarkshire. He has over 45 years’ experience working on the cervical screening program in Scotland.

Based on these findings, the Minister of Health will decide whether to launch a public inquiry.

• Vaginal bleeding that is unusual for you – including during or after sex, between periods or after menopause – or heavier periods than usual
• Changes in vaginal discharge
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