Cervical Smear Test Scandal

Cervical Cancer Screening Scandal - Southern Health & Social Care Trust

Northern Ireland has a Cervical Screening Programme for women who have no symptoms of cervical cancer. All women registered with a GP in Northern Ireland who fall within the screening age range are automatically invited to go for a screening test. Women aged between 25 and 49 are invited every three years and women aged between 50 and 64 are invited every five years. The programme aims to identify pre-cancerous cells and ultimately reduce the number of cases of cervical cancer in Northern Ireland. A highly critical independent report by the Royal College of Pathologists found that several cytology staff in the SHSCT were "significantly underperforming." As a result, approximately 17,500 women were required to have their smear tests re-examined.

About Service

About Cervical Cancer Screening Scandal - Southern Health & Social Care Trust

Over the last decade and beyond, several significant concerns related to the accuracy and reliability of the cervical cancer screening process have been raised in Northern Ireland.

The Southern Health and Social Care Trust provides a Cervical Cytology Service as part of the Northern Ireland Cervical Screening Programme. In July 2022, senior laboratory staff told the trust’s management team that they had concerns about performance in some steps of their laboratory’s screening system. To investigate these concerns, the trust commissioned the Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath Consulting) to carry out an independent assessment of its cervical screening services from 1st January 2008 and October 2021. The highly critical report revealed that several cytology staff in the SHSCT were "significantly underperforming."

As a precautionary measure, the trust carried out a review of the results of some patients who had cervical smears analysed by the trust during this time. Approximately 17,500 smear tests were reviewed to identify any potential errors and improve the accuracy of the cervical screening results.

A public apology has been made by the Southern Health Trust to those who have been impacted. However, many women remain in limbo as they await the results of their review. Tragically, a number of women have died as a result of misread smears, including Erin Harbinson and Lynsey Courtney. Their families continue the fight for answers and accountability on their behalf.

Campaigners believe the review does not go far enough and have been calling for a statutory public inquiry to investigate these issues in a robust and transparent manner.

FAQs

Public inquiries are independent investigations, established in response to public concern about a particular event or set of events.

An inquiry typically sets out to establish:

What happened, and why?
What decisions went wrong, and what went right?
What lessons can be learnt to prevent a recurrence of any adverse impacts from these events?

A statutory public inquiry has the power to compel witnesses and evidence. People or groups of people who have been adversely impacted are also given a central role in statutory Inquiry’s by being designated as core participants. This gives victims the right to be central to the Inquiry’s investigation by reviewing evidence, giving evidence, making submissions and questioning witnesses via their legal representatives and shaping the nature of the Inquiry’s investigation more generally to ensure that it is as comprehensive as possible.