4,500 women aren’t sent cancer results in new screening fiasco
Blunder also denies 43,000 an invite for cervical tests
HEALTH chiefs were facing serious questions last night after it emerged nearly 50,000 patients were not sent cervical screening invitations or test results.
Doctors’ leaders said the ‘appalling failures’ had put women’s lives at risk in the latest of a series of NHS cancer screening blunders.
About 43,200 women did not receive either an invitation or reminder letter to attend their screening appointment between January and June this year. A further 4,500 were not sent the results of the smear tests they had attended between January and October.
Capita, the contract firm responsible, blamed ‘human error’ for the latest embarrassing glitch, which resulted in the letters not being printed or sent. Of the patients, about 200 had results which showed abnormalities, putting them at higher risk of cervical cancer.
It comes months after it emerged 450,000 women were not invited for breast cancer screening, with dozens believed to have died as a result. Health officials insist there is no evidence yet that any patient has come to harm, although it admitted it was still tracing half of the women with abnormal results.
Last night, it emerged NHS England has known about the latest blunder for almost a month but kept quiet while contacting those affected.
The incident came to light after the British Medical Association revealed it had written to the head of the NHS, calling for Capita to be stripped of its contract. It is the latest in a string of failings by the company – which was awarded a £330 million contract by NHS England in 2015 – to manage GP support services.
In a letter to Simon Stevens, the BMA described the company’s running of support services as ‘shambolic’ and urged NHS England to bring the support services for GPs back in-house.
Dr Richard Vautrey, BMA GP committee chairman, said: ‘This is an incredibly serious situation, and it is frankly appalling that patients may now be at risk because of this gross error on the part of Capita.
‘This has been caused solely by Capita’s incompetence. Since it took responsibility for GP backroom functions three years ago, Capita’s running of these services has been nothing short of shambolic.’
About 4.5 million invitations for cervical screening are sent out every year. Women aged 25 to 49 are invited for screening every three years, while those aged 50 to 64 are asked to attend every five years.
If the regular tests spot precancerous cells, these can be treated before they develop into tumours that can spread throughout the body.
Doctors fear the blunder could reduce uptake, which at 72 per cent is already at the lowest levels for two decades. The news comes just months after it emerged 450,000 women had not been invited for breast cancer screening after mistakes went undetected for almost a decade.
The latest error came to light in August but Capita insists senior management did not find out until last month, when the company says it immediately informed NHS England.
Officials said letters had now been sent to all women who had not received one of their screening invitations or reminders. Of those with abnormal results, half have been traced and offered further tests, and Capita was confident the remaining women would be contacted imminently. A Government spokesman confirmed an investigation was under way.
The Royal College of GPs echoed calls to strip Capita of its contract, saying: ‘This error has put patients at risk, and it will undoubtedly cause women more anxiety.’
A Capita spokesman said disciplinary action was being taken against one Capita employee and the senior manager responsible for the test results contract had left the company.
Last year, Capita was implicated in the scandal of the ‘bully boy’ parking firms which aggressively target motorists at hospitals and city centres.
ParkingEye, which was owned by Capita until it was sold for £235 million in July, was the most prolific of the companies employed to hound drivers.
Capita was also exposed by a Mail investigation last year for using ruthless and underhand tactics to collect licence fees on behalf of the BBC.