Cancer women get screening error apology
Thursday June 29, 2006

A health authority apologised yesterday after 18 women were diagnosed with breast cancer after being told they did not have the disease. Essex strategic health authority (SHA) admitted that a catalogue of problems had led to a "serious service failure" at the breast screening unit at St Margaret's hospital in Epping.

Problems included substandard clinical and managerial practices, inadequate supervision, staff shortages and conflict between some of the unit's staff members.

Yesterday, Dr Paul Watson, the SHA's medical director, said it was impossible to tell if the cancers subsequently detected had been present during the initial screening or developed later. But the SHA and the hospital, run by the Princess Alexandra hospital NHS trust, had done "everything possible" to prevent a recurrence.

"We very much regret that the breast screening service in West Essex was not meeting national quality standards for a time and that we needed to call women back for further assessment, which may have been extremely stressful. We are very sorry indeed that for some women this led to a diagnosis of breast cancer."

A total of 5,765 screening cases were re-examined and 200 women recalled for new tests after concerns were raised in October 2004 about the service. Of these women, 18 were found to have breast cancer and received treatment.

Three reviews by independent consultant radiologists were conducted, together with a final external review commissioned by the authority and the NHS breast screening programme and published yesterday. It found that, together with the staff conflicts and shortages, the service failed to plan and provide adequate training, clinical governance risk assessment or supervision of a particular type of breast biopsy. It recommended employing more radiologists, improving staff training and creating more clearly defined roles within the unit.

The SHA said individuals at the heart of the problem were no longer employed by the trust. The breast screening service started up again in January this year after being suspended in November 2004.