Women needtreatment after faulty smear tests

include a practical element in regional training for nurses and GPs who carry out tests. In Leeds, data from cervical screening by sample takers is now reviewed every six months and they are also given help to monitor their performance. The tester in Gildersome had been retrained and is now working to the required standard.

Chief executive of NHS Leeds John Lawlor apologised for the inconvenience caused and said lessons would be learned in the city and further afield.

“We know it must have been a difficult time for everyone involved in the recall and we are pleased the majority of these women have now been re-tested,” he said.

“I can assure women that NHS Leeds is committed to making improvements to this service as a result of our findings and will take forward this important piece of work during the coming year.”

Liz Henley, who heads screening for the regional health authority, said a review of training had been ordered across Yorkshire and the North-East in the wake of the problems.

A smear test aims to prevent cancer. In most cases, checks are normal but in about seven per cent abnormalities can indicate problems developing which require further investigation.

Fewer than two-in-10,000 women screened show signs of having possible invasive cancer.

Numbers being screened rose by 12 per cent to 3.6 million nationally in 2008-9. The cancer affects 2,000 women each year.

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