A woman diagnosed with cervical cancer has learned that three previous abnormal smear tests were missed by health trusts in Northern Ireland. The 45-year-old, referred to as Susan to protect her identity, underwent a radical hysterectomy after a 2019 test revealed cancerous cells.
The Southern and Western health trusts, which were involved in Susan's care, have apologised for the errors. The Southern Health Trust misread her smear test in 2011, while the Western Trust missed abnormal cells in tests from 2014 and 2017.
A Serious Adverse Incident investigation concluded that if the abnormalities had been correctly identified, Susan would have been referred for colposcopy. The Southern Trust is now conducting a review of screening samples from 2019 to 2021, expected to take 10 weeks, which could affect hundreds of women.
Susan described the diagnosis as devastating and said her trust in the medical profession was shattered. She hopes her story will alert other women to potential failings in the screening programme.
Figures obtained by BBC News NI show that between 2019 and 2021, at least nine of 227 cervical cancer diagnoses across Northern Ireland had serious issues. Not all affected women have been informed of the audits, and communication practices vary between trusts.
