Parents of woman who died from cervical cancer after misread smear reject Southern Trust apology

The parents of a woman who died of cervical cancer following a misread smear test have rejected an apology from the Southern Trust for years of failings within its laboratory.

Ron and Sandra Courtney also said they are still waiting for a personal apology for their daughter's death six years ago this week and accused the trust of a 'cover-up' - a claim the trust denies.

“These mistakes were being made for years, even before Lindsay, it’s not as if it popped out of nowhere so an apology at this stage is no good," Ron told UTV.

It comes after the medical Director of the Southern Trust apologised for failings within its cervical screening process which led to the misreading of tests as far back as 2007 - but says that better governance is now in place.

Dr Stephen Austin says that a review of almost 17,500 samples has found no cancer, but did find 305 instances of abnormalities which were not picked up at the time.

However, as part of UTV's special investigation we have learned that an audit into cases of cervical cancer that were already known shows at least eight women over the past month have been told a Serious Adverse Incident investigation has been instigated following a review of their smears. This is a separate review.

Members of the Health Committee have told the Southern Trust there needs to be an independent statutory public inquiry into failings within cervical cancer screening services.

Senior Trust officials have been providing an update to politicians on their ongoing review of the smear test results of 17,500 women.

They were also providing information to the board of the Southern Trust at their latest meeting.

The review began last year and came after concerns were initially raised in 2021 which led to a damning report by the Royal College of Pathologists.

A separate UTV investigation revealed significant underperformance involving several screeners in the laboratory going back years.

The board said within their review no cervical cancer has been to date detected after the slides were re-screened, however around 300 low-grade abnormalities and fewer than five higher grade abnormalities had now been detected.

In a separate ongoing invasive cancer audit where the screening histories of women who are known to have developed cervical cancer are being studied, around 60 confirmed cases of cancer have been identified but they did not reveal how many of them were as a result of smears being read incorrectly.

They did reveal eight serious adverse incidents (SAIs) had been declared.

UTV has learned that most of those SAIs involved the misreading of smear tests.

In a statement, the Trust said: "In October 2023, the Southern Health Trust launched a precautionary cervical screening review for 17,543 women.

"The review was carried out in partnership with the Public Health Agency (PHA) to check that the original result provided was correct.

"To avoid any conflict of interest, the Southern Trust laboratory did not participate in review of cytology slides; this was undertaken in Belfast, Western and Northern Trust laboratories."

For the outcome of the review, the Trust said: "The main review is now 99.54% complete and to date no cases of cervical cancer have been identified.

"Initial findings of the review confirm that the vast majority of previous smear results are unchanged and have been reconfirmed as normal.

"As expected, some low-grade abnormalities (around 300) and a very small number of higher grade abnormalities (fewer than 5) have been found.

"Identifying high-grade abnormalities does not mean cancer has been found, rather these are pre-cancerous cell changes that could progress to cancer if left unchecked or untreated.

"These women are being followed up by clinical staff with further investigation and management if required."

Dr Stephen Austin, Southern Trust Medical Director said: “During the period 2008 - 2021, some of our screeners’ performance fell below the recognised standard. This was identified and actions were taken to deliver improvement.

"However, at times, the performance of some screeners did not reach the required standard despite having had additional training and support.

"This was not recognised and we apologise for this.

"The Cervical Cytology Review has been a significant undertaking but it has shown that, for the vast majority of women, their original result did not change.

"However, I am very mindful of the distress this process has caused over recent months and I apologise again to all those women affected.

"The review was carried out in a very comprehensive manner and I must thank laboratory colleagues across Northern Ireland for helping us to complete the work as quickly as possible.

"Cervical screening saves lives and it is essential that women continue to come forward for their cervical testing when invited to do so.”

The Trust said: "Work has commenced on a comprehensive outcomes report to detail findings from the review. It is expected that the report will be completed in the Autumn".

It added: "Each year in Northern Ireland, around 80 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and tragically there are approximately 21 deaths.

"Data from the NI Cancer Registry show that there is no significant variation in incidence, stage at diagnosis, or deaths from cervical cancer between Health and Social Care Trust areas."

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