Up to 270 women in England may have died because they did not receive invitations to a final routine breast cancer screening, United Kingdom Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says.
Photo: 123rf
Public Health England discovered the problem after analysing data and has apologised to the women affected.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Hunt said 450,000 women aged 68-71 had failed to get invitations since 2009.
He said a computer algorithm failure was to blame and meant in some cases that women approaching their 71st birthday were not sent an invitation for a final breast scan as they should have been.
Mr Hunt told the Commons 450,000 women had missed out on final breast scans, and computer modelling suggested between 135 and 270 may have died through non-diagnosis.
"For them and others it is incredibly upsetting to know that you did not receive an invitation for screening at the correct time and totally devastating to hear you may have lost or be about to lose a loved one because of administrative incompetence," he said.
He announced an independent review and apologised "wholeheartedly and unreservedly" to the women and their families.
"Irrespective of when the incident started, the fact is for many years oversight of our screening programme has not been good enough."
Britain's Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Photo: AFP PHOTO / Niklas HALLE'N
"We also need to get to the bottom of precisely how many people were affected, why it happened and most importantly how we can prevent it from ever happening again."
Breast cancer screening in England is offered once every three years to women aged 50 to 70. After 70, women can still have screening if they choose to by contacting their GP.
Women in Scotland are not affected by the error because it has a different IT system. Wales and Northern Ireland have similar systems to England but Mr Hunt said there was no reason to believe they were affected.
Mr Hunt said all women affected would be contacted by letter by the end of May and those under 72 would receive an appointment for a catch-up mammogram.
He said any woman who wanted a mammogram would get one within six months, and it was a priority to make sure additional scans did not cause any delays in the screening programme for other women.
Health leaders shocked, welcome review
GPs' leaders said they were "shocked" to learn of the error and said the implications for GPs would potentially be "significant".
Dr Jenny Harries, deputy medical director at PHE, said: "They and their families' wellbeing is our top priority and we are very sorry for these faults in the system."
The Royal College of GPs welcomed the independent review and urged women affected not to panic.
Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said the priority should not be to establish blame, but to safeguard women into the future.
"To put measures in place to invite those women affected for screening where appropriate, to ensure there are enough resources in the system to cope with any additional demand that might follow as a result, and to take steps to ensure this never happens again."
Emma Greenwood, Cancer Research UK's director of policy and public affairs, said the breast screening error was "very concerning".
"It's worth remembering that many breast cancers are still found by women themselves, outside of the screening programme, so if you notice any unusual changes in your breast see your GP straight away," she said.
