Family of Northern Ireland mum who died of cancer after 'misread' test join calls for inquiry

Calls are mounting for a statutory public inquiry to be launched in Northern Ireland, following the deaths of two women from cervical cancer whose cytology 'smear' slides were misread.

Lynsey Courtney and Erin Harbinson both died of cervical cancer, and both submitted smear tests which were misread by staff before they were finally diagnosed with the disease.

In the wake of their deaths, a major review of 17,000 plus smear test results was ordered by the Southern Health and Social Care Trust, with thousands of women now awaiting the findings.

The catalogue of failures, spanning more than a decade, has enraged campaigners over a lack of transparency and missed opportunities to save lives.

Ahead of the review's completion, UTV Reporter Sarah Clarke met Lynsey's family - including her teenage son - to discuss their fight for justice.

Callum Courtney has just turned 18 but he has spent all of his teenage years without his mum.

Raised in her place by Lynsey's parents, Sandra and Ron, into a confident, articulate young man.

A son Lynsey would have been proud of and who bears a striking resemblance to her.

As they leafed through photo albums of Lynsey - posing in her Girls' Brigade uniform, playing for Armagh Ladies hockey club, winning swimming competitions and performing as a talented dancer, they all recalled the type of person she was. One they said who just "loved life".

"Lynsey was a very lively person and she loved life. Dance was her passion. She did a lot of competitions and she really just enjoyed them - really bloomed when she took part. She just loved life. Yes, she really did," her mum, Sandra, told ITV News at their home in Portadown, Northern Ireland.

Callum agreed: "She was such a lively person, real bubbly. Mum would have brought a smile to everyone's face. She was just a real inspiration to everyone and that's what I live by. I live by her legacy. To fulfil her dreams as well as my own."

He admitted how much he misses his mum but that he has to "keep going".

"She would want me to keep going. She'd want me to have a big smile on my face all the time. She'd want me to succeed in life. I want to go on to be a teacher. She worked in a school as a classroom assistant and taught dance too. So I want to teach. She'd be happy with that," he said.

It broke Lynsey's heart not to be able to take her son to his first day of secondary school, but at that stage her cancer was too advanced. Instead, she tenderly helped get him ready from her hospital bed. Within days, the 30-year-old would have passed away.

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The diagnosis came as a huge shock as Lynsey's first ever smear result had come back clear and she had just been for her next - three years later - as recommended.

Recalling the moment they found out, Sandra said that Lynsey took the news first - alone with the doctor - insisting her mum remained in the waiting room.

"Then, the doctor that was dealing with her brought me in and said 'I've rung your sister.' So I knew something wasn't going right. And she told me that Lynsey had cancer."

The emotion of that moment still raw for Sandra, she broke down momentarily then composed herself and continued.

"So we all had a cry together and then we had to rally, you know. And we said we're going to beat this," she said.

"Lynsey just had a brilliant attitude that she was going to beat this. She really tried to protect us, tried to protect me because I'm quite a weepy person.

"And she wanted to be there for Callum, to be able to do everything and try not to disrupt his life, just to keep things going as normal."

Lynsey's focus was her treatment and healing. But she did at times question how she came to be so unwell so quickly.

"Lynsey herself would have said when she had more thinking time, when she was in hospital, you know 'in 2013 everything was all right then in 2016 I'm at this level? What has happened?' And she said when she got better she would want to talk to somebody about that," Sandra said.

"So the reason we as a family have pursued this is because it was on Lynsey's wishlist. We wanted to say we've done this for you. But we never, ever thought that was the answer that we would have got. Not in this day and age."

The Courtneys were called to a meeting with senior consultants in the Southern Trust less than six weeks after Lynsey's death.

The memory of the day clear in Ron's mind.

"I sat at the bottom of the table. Sandra was closer to the top of the table. We were facing the consultant and you could see this person was agitated because they were rubbing their hands," he said.

"They didn't want to look at us directly in the face. And I'm no body language expert, but I know when somebody is anxious. They had something that they really didn't want to share. Their face was red. Then all of a sudden, they said to Sandra about being sorry about Lynsey and so on.

"And we took it at first that they were being nice about Lynsey's death. And then the next thing hit me like a tonne of bricks.

"They said 'I am awfully sorry. If only I had seen them at the time, things would have been different.'"

"And I thought, what? What do you mean different? Your mind starts to work overtime. You start to think what do you mean things would have been different?"

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The Trust admitted that there were cancer cells on Lynsey's slide - a mistake which turned out to have fatal consequences.

But in a subsequent meeting again with senior clinicians, this time again attended by the family - minutes of which were seen by UTV - they asked if the work of the screeners involved in Lynsey's case had been checked - given what had happened to her.

They were told no. One consultant even questioned the need to do so.

Sandra was shocked: "Well, I just thought in the environment that I work in, if something went wrong, you know, everybody looks back to see what happened.

"Management or whatever, looks back to see where it can be made right. So it won't happen again.

"And I just thought it's common sense that anybody in that type of work and especially in the seriousness of that type of work that would be one of the first things that they would do - to stop it from happening again.

"I really can't believe that in this day and age that they actually didn't."

When I asked Sandra if she thought had they listened to the family and acted quicker to check the screeners' work, Erin Harbinson, whose three smear tests were misread and who recently died, could potentially be alive today, her response was scathing.

"Really I don't want to comment on that. I have my own thoughts on that. And that's something the trust will have to answer for," she said.

It was a further five years after Lynsey's death and the Courtneys' crucial questions before the Southern Trust would call a review into cervical screening - which they say is due to be completed this month and which has affected thousands of women.

Sandra was appalled when she heard about the recall.

"Oh, my goodness. It really floored us as a family. We couldn't believe it. You know, we always thought when we brought it to the attention of the trust that even if there was one or two people, but never in my wildest dreams did we think 17,500," she said.

"I actually had to go to bed, you know, it just floored me, really. It hurt me. And that's when we realised that nothing ever was put in place from Lynsey."

Sandra Courtney described being 'floored' as a family after being told about the recall of more than 17,000 women's smear tests

A further question the Courtneys have struggled to get an answer to is why a serious adverse incident into Lynsey's case was never declared.

It is inaction which they believe should carry a criminal sanction.

"Somebody has to be held responsible," Ron said.

"It's as simple as that. And that's what we're asking for, for somebody to be held responsible for a mistake that cost our daughter's life.

"If anybody killed somebody in their own car it's vehicular manslaughter. They're held responsible. Even though it may have been just an accident, they're still held responsible.

"Because that caused the death of a person. So why should somebody here not be held responsible? It's the same crime. I think it's an avenue that could be looked at. Definitely."

But it is the lack of transparency and candour which has really pained the Courtneys and compounded their grief.

"If there's nothing to hide, why not just tell us? If somebody has something to hide, they'll do what they can to cover it up," said Ron.

"But if somebody is innocent and has nothing to hide, they'll tell you everything you want to know.

"Well, then just tell us. Give us the information. If you have nothing to hide and you've done nothing wrong, just give us the truth. It's as simple as that."

'If there's nothing to hide, why not just tell us?' - Ron Courtney told ITV News how his family have been pained by a lack of transparency from the Southern Trust

The Courtneys have joined calls for a full statutory public enquiry into the scandal.

"Take ownership. Tell the truth. And yes, it might be hot and bothered for a while, but people can move on and they will definitely learn from this," said Sandra.

Ron added: "We want Lynsey's death not to be a waste - if we can get this sorted and other people won't die from the same mistake. Fix the mistake, fix the problem and other women's lives can be saved.

"Lynsey is not a name on a spreadsheet. She's not just a number, or something on a petri dish, just one of those things that happened. No. Lindsay was a person, a dignified human being. We need to find out exactly the reason why this happened to make sure that it doesn't happen again to any other family."

A Southern Health and Social Care Trust spokesperson said: "The performance of any screener can fluctuate for a range of reasons. There are systems in place to pick this up and screeners are given annual training to keep their skills up.

"During the period 2008 - 2021, some of our screeners performance did fall below the recognised standard.

"The underperformance was identified by us at the time and actions were taken to deliver improvement.

"However, in some years, the performance of some screeners did not reach the required standard despite having had the required update training and support. This was not recognised and we apologise for this. In 2021 we took action to address screener underperformance including some of our staff ceasing screening duties.

"Senior laboratory staff notified our management team that they had concerns about performance in some steps of their laboratory’s screening system.

"To fully investigate these concerns, we brought in The Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) to undertake an independent assessment of our cervical screening services and then we published their report on our website.

"The report found that for some screeners, the number of times performance dropped during the period 2008 to 2021 was a concern and they were not satisfied that the actions taken by the Trust were sufficiently robust. The RCPath Report contained recommendations and we have worked with the PHA to implement them in full.

"As a precautionary measure, we launched a major review in October 2023, in partnership with the Public Health Agency, of cervical screening records of approximately 17,500 women in the Southern Trust. We assessed all women’s cervical smear histories in the Southern Trust since 2008 and identified the women who are affected and were to be included in the review.

"The Cervical Screening review will be completed within days and nearly all the women will have received an outcome at this stage. The results confirm that the vast majority of previous smear results are unchanged and have been confirmed as normal.

"Women with a diagnosis of cervical cancer are not part of The Cervical Screening Review. These women with a confirmed diagnosis of cervical cancer have their screening history reviewed through an audit of invasive cancer for learning and improvement purposes. No Cervical Cancers have been identified to date in the Cervical Review.

"The Cervical Cytology Review is due to conclude this month, after which a factual report will be produced before a detailed analysis of all findings will be undertaken. The Health Minister has advised that he will await the outcome of these processes before determining any next steps.

"It was confirmed recently that The Belfast Trust will provide the regional one-site Laboratory service for the NI Cervical Screening Programme. It is essential that women keep coming forward for their cervical testing when invited to do so."

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