Breast scan review after error ‘may have cost lives’
PUBLIC Health Wales is reviewing its breast cancer screening programme in the wake of the announcement that thousands of women in England were not offered the potentially life-saving service. Jeremy Hunt, the cabinet minister responsible for the health service in England, told MPs that an estimated 450,000 women aged between 68 and 71 since 2009 were not invited to their final breast screening. He said that between 135 and 270 women may have “had their lives shortened as a result”.
Mr Hunt apologised “wholeheartedly and unreservedly for the suffering caused” and promised an independent review of the NHS breast screening programme. The lack of invitations was blamed on a “computer algorithm failure”.
Mr Hunt said that the same IT system was used in Wales but that the
Welsh Government “doesn’t believe that this problem has affected them”.
A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: “We have been made aware of the issues affecting the breast screening programme in England. We would like to reassure women in Wales that we believe this issue to be one that predominantly affects England, however as a precaution Public Health Wales is reviewing the Welsh breast screening programme to ensure all eligible women are invited for screening.”
Mr Hunt told the Commons that a “computer algorithm failure” dating back to 2009 had meant many women aged 68 to 71 in England were not invited to their final routine screening.
Mr Hunt said “administrative incompetence” meant some families may have lost, or be about to lose, a loved one to cancer.
Women in England between the ages of 50 and 70 are currently automatically invited for breast cancer screening every three years.
In England women aged under 72 will now be automatically sent an invitation to a catch-up screening.
Women who live in Wales who are registered with a GP in England – or who were previously registered with an English GP – will be contacted by the Welsh screening programme.
Labour Cynon Valley MP Ann Clwyd pushed Mr Hunt on how Wales may be affected.
Speaking in the Commons, she said: “Can I ask the Secretary of State what conversations he’s had with the Welsh Secretary because having long since passed the ages he mentioned, I certainly was never invited for a screening, I had to ask for one and eventually got the screening in England.”
Mr Hunt replied: “We haven’t had conversations at ministerial level but we have had conversations at official level. The Welsh administration doesn’t believe that this problem has affected them, even though they were using the same IT system that we were using in England, but that is their view.
“But obviously our concern is of people living in England registered with a Welsh GP or people living in Wales registered with an English GP. And so that’s why we’re having constructive discussions to share IT information to make sure that everyone in England or Wales registered with a GP will get that letter.”
Baroness Delyth Morgan, Chief Executive at Breast Cancer Now, urged against panic, but expressed deep regret at the situation in England.
She said: “We are deeply saddened and extremely concerned to hear that so many women have been let down by such a colossal systematic failure. That hundreds of thousands of women have not received the screening invitations they’ve been relying upon, at a time when they may be most at risk of breast cancer, is totally unacceptable.
“We know this will unfortunately be incredibly difficult news for many women to hear... For those women who will have gone on to develop breast cancers that could have been picked up earlier through screening, this is a devastating error...
“It is beyond belief that this major mistake has been sustained for almost a decade and we need to know why this has been allowed to happen. We welcome the independent inquiry to ensure this can never be repeated.”
Tory former minister Maria Miller told MPs the revelations were “deeply worrying” and called for a review of NHS quality assurance safeguards, while fellow Conservative Dr Sarah Wollaston called on Mr Hunt to give assurances that all women affected would be provided with “high-quality, evidence-based guidance”.