More women likely to have died due to Scotland cervical cancer screening error, says lawyer

More women are likely to have died due to the Scotland cervical cancer screening error, which incorrectly excluded hundreds of women from the country’s cervical screening programme, a top medical negligence expert has said.

Patrick McGuire, partner at Thompsons Scotland, said the loss of at least three women and two others, who have developed cervical cancer after they were were wrongly told they did not need to be screened, signals more tragic loss is “highly likely”.

The lawyer said so many women have called with concerns, their office has opened a helpline, The Sunday Post reported.

The scandal, which first emerged three years ago when NHS Scotland contacted 1,500 women who were thought to be at risk, revolves around women given a partial hysterectomy being wrongly excluded from the national cervical screening programme since 1997.

Partial hysterectomy removes only the uterus, leaving behind the cervix, which means women could still be at risk of developing cervical cancer.

The NHS Scotland reported initially that just over 400 women were affected. However, in 2021 the Scottish Government wrote to 1,500 who were considered most likely to have been incorrectly excluded.

Last week, The Sunday Post revealed that as many as 152,000 cases could now be under review.

Maguire said: “A major set of NHS blunders in their cervical screening programme left hundreds of thousands of women unnecessarily at risk for years.

“Despite knowing about these risks for three years, the Scottish Government and health boards have still only reviewed half the records of women who were wrongly removed from cervical screening programmes.

“So far, the government have admitted there are three women they know about who have tragically lost their lives and a further two who have developed cancer.

“When you look at the numbers of women still to have their cases reviewed and undergo screening where necessary, sadly it is highly likely that others may lose their lives or develop cancer as a result of these blunders.”

He added: “The cervical cancer screening scandal is yet another shocking example of an inadequate response to women’s health issues.”