Cervical smear test: MP Carla Lockhart seeks urgent answers after health trusts miss abnormality in patient's results three times

The DUP representative is seeking an urgent meeting with the Southern Health and Social Care Trust to “make sure no one else faces such a devastating diagnosis’.

The woman in question had to undergo a radical hysterectomy when a test in 2019 revealed cancerous cells.

The 45-year-old told the BBC she was “devastated” at the diagnosis and shocked and upset that previous tests had been misread.

"I was plunged into the menopause and dealing with that was horrendous. It affected me physically, mentally and emotionally," she said.

The Southern and Western health trusts, which were involved in the woman’s care, have apologised with the Southern Trust also launching a review or risk assessment, which will be carried out by the Royal College of Pathology.

The review, which expected to take 10 weeks to complete and could affect hundreds of women, will attempt to establish if there was a greater chance of missing abnormalities in screening samples in the trust between 2019 and 2021.

Carla Lockhart said she was “horrified” by the case.

"It is not even two weeks ago since we marked Cervical Cancer Prevention Week across the UK. The central theme of that campaign is to ensure women do not skip or delay their routine smear test.

"I am horrified to learn that, despite three abnormal results to her smear tests, these were missed on each occasion and the patient in question was then diagnosed with cervical cancer.

"There must be absolute confidence in the process, from test to analysis of result. This has shaken the confidence of local women who now will be asking ‘was my test result assessed correctly?’

"The Trust has taken steps to provide this reassurance, and that is welcome. We need a swift review or risk assessment to assuage any concerns out there amongst local women.

"I will be meeting the Trust to seek further answers on how this went so badly wrong, and the measures they will take to address the issues arising from this case, but also to make sure that no one else faces such a devastating diagnosis.”