Woman dies after Scottish cancer screening error

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A woman has died from cervical cancer after being wrongly excluded from Scotland's screening programme.

Public Health Minister Maree Todd said a "serious adverse event" in Scotland's cervical cancer screening programme resulted in about 430 women being wrongly told they did not need checked.

A "small number" of these women later developed cervical cancer and one has since died.

All of the affected women will now be given fast-tracked appointments.

In a statement to Holyrood, Ms Todd said the issue came to light during a routine audit of cervical cancer data in a unnamed Scottish health board.

This found that a "small number" of women had been excluded from the programme following a hysterectomy, but had subsequently developed cervical cancer.

One of those women has died.

Most hysterectomies involve the removal of the cervix and then there is no further need for cervical cancer screening.

However, sometimes a hysterectomy is performed where part or all of the cervix remains and those women should remain on the screening programme if they are within the eligible age range.

'Heartfelt apologies'

Ms Todd said: "I want to offer my condolences to the family of the woman who we now know died from cervical cancer after being excluded from the screening programme.

"These exclusions from the cervical screening programme should not have happened and I want to apologise to all those affected by this error.

"I offer my heartfelt apologies in particular to the women who were excluded from the programme who went on to develop cancer, and to their families."

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June 25, 2021 at 01:42AM

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-57596250