Cancer overlooked in 14 breast screenings

A review carried out following the suspension of a radiologist, has revealed that 14 women with breast cancer had it overlooked during their examination.

The report examined the clinical assessment of breast examinations of nearly 7,500 women examined at Belfast's City Hospital, Antrim Area Hospital and Altnagelvin, in County Londonderry.

Following the review, it has been recommended that the consultant radiologist should not be involved in breast screening until the circumstances of what happened have been fully resolved.

Health Minister Shaun Woodward has apologised on behalf of the health service for the distress caused to the women who had cancers detected.

The Minister confirmed that all 14 women had undergone treatment, where appropriate and received follow-up treatment as required.

In November last year, the government announced that there was a query into the work of a clinical radiologist who had assessed mammograms from thousands of women in the province.

The review, headed up by Dr Robin Wilson, director of Breast Screening Quality Assurance, East Midlands, looked at the cases under inspection. Of those cases, 404 women were called back for re-examination, and 14 were found to have breast cancer, which was not picked up initially.

The Health Minister has promised that necessary changes will be introduced to prevent such an incident happening again.

He added that: "Patients must have access to the highest quality and safest health care available.

"It is also important that women in Northern Ireland have confidence in the breast cancer screening programme, which has contributed significantly to the reduction in the number of women dying from breast cancer in the last 10 years."

Mr Woodward continued by praising the speed at which Dr Wilson and his team carried out the review and said that he expected the results of the Health and Personal Social Services Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority's investigation, which was launched at the same time as Dr Wilson's inquiry, to be announced in March.

(EF/SP)