Cervical cancer diagnosis review Northern Ireland: Health Minister Robin Swann reveals up to 19 Serious Adverse Incidents (SAIs)
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Reviews of all tests after 2019 were triggered in October, after a report from the Royal College of Pathologists found a significant number of women screened by the Southern Trust were likely to have had negative cervical screening results which would have been identified as potentially abnormal by other laboratories.
Health Minister Robin Swann has now revealed in a letter to DUP MLA Diane Dodds that up to 19 cases across all trusts so far are being classed as Serious Adverse Incidents (SAIs).
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Hide AdMs Dodds said: “Health Minister Robin Swann has confirmed to me by letter that the number of cervical cancer cases over a four-year period being investigated as serious adverse incidents is between 13 and 19.
"The majority are in the Western Trust where 11 cases have been identified. There are between one and four cases in each of the Southern and Belfast Trusts with none identified in the other two Trusts. These cases which are being treated as serious adverse incidents were found to have unsatisfactory reviews with either false negative results or significant management or process issues. Those numbers may well increase.
"I want to pursue whether Trusts have all used precisely the same approach, and if it is possible that could explain the marked variation in the Western Trust."
The ongoing review has been "hugely distressing” for many women, she said, adding that “robust lessons have to be learned”.
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