This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
NHS mishap sees thousands miss screening appointments
It has been reported that over 40,000 women in England have not received information regarding cervical cancer screening after a failure to send out letters by the NHS.
The errors, made between January and June, include approximately 4,000 letters detailing the results of tests, while the remainder were letters inviting women for screening or reminding them they were due.
The service is provided for NHS England by Capita, the latter of which has been labelled as 'nothing short of shambolic' by the British Medical Association.
Dr Richard Vautrey said: "We know that, because of the nature of this procedure, many patients are already reluctant to attend these appointments, and therefore reminder letters are crucial. Incidents like this, therefore, will hardly inspire confidence in the system and risk even fewer women getting checked."
Vautrey has called for Capita to be stripped of the contract.
The error follows the well-document incident of 450,000 women not having been invited for breast cancer screening after mistakes went undetected for years. It is thought up to 270 women may have died as a result.
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