‘Cancer screening never fully accurate,’ say medical bosses
CERVICALCHECK has drastically reduced the number of women dying from cervical cancer but it must be accepted that false negatives are part of the programme, according to the Medical Council.
Dr Rita Doyle, president of the doctors’ regulatory body, has expressed concerns about ‘inaccurate information’ put to the public following the recent CervicalCheck scandal.
She said it is important to encourage women to undergo their smear tests, but inform them that it is a screening test and not a diagnostic examination.
Cervical cancer-screening chiefs have acknowledged that only 60% to 75% of abnormalities are detected through screening, yet the CervicalCheck website merely states the test is ‘not always 100% accurate’, a statement which could be understood to suggest a higher success rate of detection than is the case.
Despite the issue, Dr Doyle, who is a GP, is urging women to continue attending for smear tests.
‘Cancer screening saves lives every week, however screening is not a diagnostic exercise and there is an acceptable norm of false negative and indeed false positive results,’ she said.
‘The CervicalCheck programme has decreased the mortality rate by 7% year on year since its inception, thus reducing the number of women who die from Cervical Cancer.
‘This in itself is a good news story but has been somewhat lost in the varying issues that have emerged.’
Dr Doyle said she is aware of concerns that a backlog in smear tests may lead to doctors having to repeat the test in some cases, and believes this is ‘unacceptable to both patients and doctors’.
‘This could have the potential to have a further negative impact on the public’s confidence in screening services.
‘As a general practitioner of over 30 years, I encourage the public to continue to attend for screening appointments when invited to do so,’ she said.
Meanwhile, Professor Arnold Hill, the national cancer adviser to BreastCheck, told a Dáil health committee hearing in May that one in ten cancer cases are completely missed by Ireland’s mammogram system.