Cancer compensation

SIR – News of the implementation problems with the NHS breast cancer screening programme (report, May 5) caused distress to many women and their families.

Considering the time that elapsed before this reached the general public, it is surprising there are disputes about the numbers involved, let alone the estimates of harm.

In Parliament, Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, has discussed compensation. However, screening doesn’t work anywhere near well enough to show clearly that the failure of the screening system resulted in death or damage to a particular individual’s health.

Most women with breast cancer, whether diagnosed through symptoms or through screening, live, thanks to excellent modern treatment or because they are suffering from less aggressive cancers. But some women who have breast cancer, screen-detected or not, die despite treatment.

Five in 1,000 women who don’t attend a breast screening programme for 11 years die from breast cancer; screening can only prevent one in five of those deaths. This doesn’t pass the legal “balance of probabilities” test that would allow compensation. Professor Susan Bewley

Professor of Women’s Health King’s College, London Dr Margaret Mccartney

Patron, Healthwatch

Keith Isaacson Professor Michael Baum Emeritus Professor of Surgery and Medical Humanities University College, London