Further errors in cervical screening letter scandal

It has been revealed that an additional 3,591 women have not received information about NHS cervical cancer screening due to administrative errors made by Capita.

The company, contracted to send out the screening invitations, said that the discovery was made during an investigation into the administrative error already known to have affected 40,000 women in England.

NHS England says that the errors, made over the last two years, have not led to any evidence of harm and that the women involved, and their GPs, are being written to. The organisation also stated that most of the unsent letters were invitations or reminders to attend for screening, but conceded that some were about abnormal test results. Of those failing to receive results, Capita says that they still had the correct clinical follow-up investigations despite the correspondence failure.

Robert Music, chief executive of Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust, said: "Frankly, it is appalling that thousands of women have been affected by a further error. At a time when cervical screening attendance is falling, we cannot afford for faith to be lost in the programme. This could result in more women not taking up their invite. Waiting for results can already be an anxious time and failures such as this are only adding further stress to women."

Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: "This is simply not good enough. Less than a month since we initially heard about this cervical screening error, we are now hearing it is more serious, and has affected thousands more women. Cervical screening is a successful national programme that has potentially saved thousands of lives, yet take up especially among younger women, is falling. We should be doing our utmost to encourage more to have smear tests but errors, such as this, will only serve to further damage women's confidence in the programme.

"Again, it is important for women not to panic and await further information – and we know that NHS England are working to contact women who have been affected as a matter of urgency. We also welcome the forthcoming review into national cancer screening programmes by Professor Sir Mike Richards. Capita has been shown time and time again to be unable to deliver on the work it has been contracted to do in the NHS. This is completely unacceptable - people working throughout the NHS have lost all confidence in Capita, and it really is time for NHS England to reconsider its contract with them."