Some of you may recall a recent headline which hit the news when an administrative error failed to arrange routine breast screening, causing women over the UK harm and suffering.
Many of these women are now seeking legal advice as the error is thought to be negligent on the part of the NHS.
Every three years women between the age of 50 – 70 are invited for a Breast Screening which is done by an x-ray (a mammogram) to identify cancer in its earliest stages before symptoms develop. However due to a technical error within the computer system, invitations to attend Breast Cancer screenings were not sent to women aged between 68 – 71 between the years 2009 – 2018 causing them to miss out on this service.
The Government has announced that this error had gone unnoticed for almost a decade. The error was discovered when the organisation Public Health England recently upgraded the software for Breast Cancer screening invitations. Upon discovery, they undertook an analysis of the screening data to identify the extent of the problem and to highlight the number of women who had been affected. It has been warned that as many as 270 women could have died as a result of this error as well as causing an overall delay in diagnosis for many others.
The NHS are said to be currently writing to 309,000 women to inform them of the error and invite them for a mammogram.
The NHS plan to use this incident as a teaching opportunity to educate the public of the importance of breast screening and to hopefully raise awareness and understanding amongst women to ensure they benefit from the service on offer by attending breast screening appointments.
Steve Hill, Director and Medical Negligence Solicitor says “Needless to say, the error has caused substantial worry amongst those who did not receive a screening invitation when they should have. There has been a surge in concern from women across the country who are understandably angry and confused by recent events and we urge anybody who has been affected by this problem to come forward and seek legal advice.”
If you have been affected by the Breast Screening Scandal Hodgkinsons Specialist Medical Negligence Solicitors can guide you through the process of making your claim. For more information contact 01754 897150.