It has been revealed that a major error in a breast cancer screening programme may have shorted the lives of nearly 300 women across the United Kingdom.
Jeremy Hunt revealed the shocking information to the House of Commons today. The Health Secretary said the error was caused by a “computer algorithm failure.”
He explained that the issue occurred in 2009, which failed to invite women to a final routine screening.
The women affected by this error are aged between 68 and 71. He shared that between 135 and 270 women’s lives were shortened as a result of the computer error.
#Breaking Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told MPs a “serious failure” in the breast cancer screening programme meant an estimated 450,000 women were not invited to final screenings between 2009 and 2018 pic.twitter.com/C1P02LLEmK
— Press Association (@PA) May 2, 2018
Mr Hunt said that there are women in the group that would still be alive today if this error did not happen.
He addressed the House of Commons: “Earlier this year PHE analysis of trial data from the service found that there was a computer algorithm failure dating back to 2009.”
Mr Hunt revealed that an estimated 450,000 women were affected by the error when they weren’t invited to a final breast cancer screening.
“At this stage, it is not clear whether any delay in diagnosis resulted in any avoidable harm or death and that is one of the reasons I am ordering an independent review to establish the clinical impact.”
He believes that the number of women whose lives were shortened as a result of this error will not exceed their estimate of 135 and 270, “I am advised that it is unlikely to be more than this range and may be considerably less.”
In the United Kingdom, women who are aged between 50 and 70 are invited to a breast cancer screening every three years.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt apologised “wholeheartedly and unreservedly for the suffering caused” and promised an independent review of the NHS breast screening programme
— Press Association (@PA) May 2, 2018
The error in the breast cancer screening programme is now under review.
