“A small number of biomedical scientists are being investigated following fitness to practise concerns relating to cervical screening in the Southern Trust”, BBC News NI reported.
The BBC reported that “it is understood” that some of the women affected have since referred the matter to the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), which investigates concerns about the practice of a professional on its register.
The HCPC does not share details or information about individual cases where there are ongoing investigations and legal processes.
The Southern Trust said it had not referred any scientists to the HCPC as there was “insufficient information” to do so before the end of the review.
Dr Gabriel Scally, who led a 2018 review into cervical screening in the Republic of Ireland, said “it is a significant step” that the HCPC is carrying out an investigation.
“I think it’s very sad that it’s come to this because the saga of cervical screening and the way it has really failed the women of Northern Ireland,” he said.
“It’s about much, much more than just a couple of individuals whose screening performance in terms of looking at the slides is under question.”
The BBC further reported that Dr Scally’s view is that this should only be the “beginning of a really thorough review of what went wrong with cervical screening and what is still wrong with cervical screening in Northern Ireland”.
He said the current review is taking “far too long” and that “unnecessary” and “avoidable delays” are not good in a screening system.
Dr Scally feels that there shouldn’t just be a look at the screeners but at “why poor performance was tolerated in Northern Ireland, why they didn’t implement HPV [a new type of cervical screening, which Northern Ireland implemented years after England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland] and why we’ve still got a number of very small and potentially highly ineffective laboratories.”
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