A woman in Scotland has died from cervical cancer after more than 430 women were wrongly excluded from the screening programme, Scottish public health minister Maree Todd has confirmed.
Ms Todd told Holyrood that a 'serious adverse event' in the cervical cancer screening programme meant that at least 430 women were not tested. Of those, a small number later developed cervical cancer, and one has since died. The error, which dates back to 1997, involved women who had undergone partial hysterectomies and were incorrectly told they did not need screening.
'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,' Ms Todd said. She apologised to all affected, particularly those who developed cancer.
Opposition MSPs criticised the delay in detecting the error, which emerged during a routine audit at an unnamed health board. Scottish Labour's Jackie Baillie warned the full scale of the error may be larger, as health boards have been instructed to review records predating 1997. She also noted that screening services are already strained by a backlog of 180,000 delayed tests due to COVID-19.
Ms Todd confirmed that affected women will receive urgent GP or gynaecologist appointments in the coming days. The charity Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust has opened its helpline for anyone concerned. Ms Todd stressed that the overall risk of developing cervical cancer remains low and urged people not to be unduly alarmed.
