SINN Féin North Belfast MLA Caral Ní Chuilín has called on the Department of Health to give full disclosure to women affected by the review into cervical smears throughout the Health Service.
She was speaking after a woman in the care of the Southern and Western health trusts was diagnosed with cervical cancer after three misread results failed to highlight the cancer early on.
Susan – not her real name – was forced to undergo a radical hysterectomy when a test in 2019 revealed that cells within her cervix had in fact been cancerous despite three earlier 'clear' tests over the space of 10 years.
Susan, then 42, was devastated at the diagnosis and then shocked to learn that previous tests had been misread. The Royal College of Pathology (RCP) is starting a review/risk assessment on behalf of the Southern Health Trust.
The North Belfast MLA said: “Sinn Féin is deeply concerned that a woman diagnosed with cervical cancer had three previous abnormal smear tests missed by the Health Trust.
“We have requested a meeting with the Department of Health as a matter of urgency for an update on the Trusts’ review into smear tests and would like to know what they are doing to ensure women have access to these findings. It is imperative that the hundreds of women potentially affected receive full disclosure and are kept fully informed every step of the way during this process.”
The RCP review will determine whether there was a higher likelihood of missing abnormalities in screening samples in the Trust between 2019 and 2021. It is expected to take up to 10 weeks.
Sinn Fein leader Michelle O’Neill expressed her gratitude to Susan for coming forward.
“I want to thank Susan for coming forward and sharing her story and raising awareness of three of her smear tests being misread over ten years and her battle with cervical cancer," she said. "She is an inspiration.
“What happened to Susan was a truly harrowing ordeal and a serious failing on the part of local health trusts. It should not have happened."
The First Minister has urged more women to come forward and get tests done and echoed Ms Ní Chuilín's call for transparency, adding that something like this “should never happen again”.
She went on to say that this is “a very worrying time for the hundreds of women potentially affected, they deserve full disclosure and to be kept fully informed every step of the way during this review.”
Screening is offered to all women between the ages of 25 to 64 in Northern Ireland and women in that age bracket are being invited to contact clinics and surgeries.
