BBC reports, an independent review of breast screening in England has found that confusion and misunderstanding were behind an announcement in May that hundreds of thousands of women had missed out on final scans.
Jeremy Hunt, then health secretary, said that 450,000 women aged 68-71 were affected because of a computer error.
But there was “no incident”, the report said—just “unacceptable” confusion.
Charities criticized the distress and anxiety caused to many women.
The review said the confusion stemmed from a document written in 2013 which said women should be invited for screening “within 36 months of their previous screening, until they reach the age of 71.”
But this document was based on a misunderstanding of how the program was being delivered in practice by local screening units, who understood the upper age limit for screening to be 70.
The review said ministers and public health officials did not realize the document was not consistent with past policy.
As a result, “women were wrongly told they had missed a screening invitation”, the report authors said.
“In short, there was no incident and ministers were incorrectly advised,” it adds.
But Breast Cancer Now called it a “system failure” and said clarity on the age limits for breast screening was urgently needed.
The review was co-chaired by Lynda Thomas, from Macmillan, and Prof Martin Gore, from Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, with Peter Wyman, from the Care Quality Commission.
They concluded that no one person or body was to blame for the confusion but said Public Health England was too slow to work out what was going on and how to respond in May.
“This led to a public announcement which not only overstated the scale of the incident and the possible implications, but inaccurately reported its cause,” the report said.
The report said the breast screening program now needed “a re-set” and the Department of Health, Public Health England and NHS England should agree on a clear and specific definition of the ages when women would be invited for screening.
The report says NHS England has now invited up to 67,000 women for a catch-up final screening.
