Campaigners call for independent inquiry into Northern Ireland's cervical cancer screening services

The husband of a woman who died of cervical cancer after three misread smear tests has joined campaigners to call for an independent inquiry into Northern Ireland's cervical cancer screening services.

The group met with health minister Mike Nesbitt on Tuesday.

Erin Harbinson, a mother of four from County Armagh, tragically died of cervical cancer last month after three of her smear tests were misread in a decade.

Erin's case was among those which sparked the recall of 17,500 women's results in the Southern Trust area.

Last October, a report from the Royal College of Pathologists (RCPath) found that a significant number of women screened in the Southern Health Trust are likely to have had negative cervical screening results which would have been identified as potentially abnormal by other laboratories.

Around 17,500 tests spanning from January 1 2008 and October 2021 needed to be reviewed.

The campaign group said they believe a public statutory inquiry is the only way to get proper answers as to how tests were misread and the scale of the issue.

Tracey Bell from the 'Ladies with Letters' campaign said: "It is for Erin and others who have been affected by the Southern Trust cervical screening debacle that we will continue - with the help of our Health Minister, MPs, MLAs and Councillors - to seek honest and transparent answers to our many unanswered questions.

"We had a very positive meeting today and we have asked that the Health Minister initiates a statutory public inquiry into the thirteen year cervical screening scandal in the South Trust.

"A statutory public inquiry, we feel, is the only way that those at heart of this - the victims of the Trust's failings - can have opportunity to speak, to have their story heard, and to receive the answers and clarity they deserve.

"It will also allow the Southern Trust to be investigated, to be compelled to answer - along with other agencies and specific individuals involved - to explain the diabolical situation that was allowed to continue, and was not addressed in that time period.

"This is what we feel it will take to reassure the public and to help restore some confidence in the cervical screening programme.

"Someone must take accountability for these failings in the Southern Trust laboratory that cost ladies such as Erin Harbinson and Lynsey Courtney their lives."

In a statement, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said: "I was very sorry to hear of the passing of Erin Harbinson and today’s meeting provided the opportunity for me to offer my sincere condolences to her husband Trevor and to her family and friends.

"I know that Erin campaigned tirelessly for those with cancer and will always be remembered as a strong advocate for cervical screening.

"I fully appreciate that the RCPath (Royal College of Pathology) Report recommendations and the subsequent Cervical Cytology Review in the Southern Trust have caused upset and anxiety for many women and I have listened carefully to the concerns raised by the Ladies with Letters regarding some aspects of the Review.

"Cervical screening saves lives and it is essential that women keep coming forward for their cervical smear test when invited to do so as part of our well-established screening programme in Northern Ireland.

"Primary HPV testing has been fully implemented into the screening pathway, meaning a new era has begun in cervical screening in NI.

"Our screening programme is now using a test which is more effective at detecting those at higher risk of developing cervical cancer."

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