Concern at delay in alerting Scottish NHS to breast cancer blunder
The SNP's Dr Philippa Whitford fears women living here could be affected
A Scottish breast surgeon turned MP says women here should have been told sooner about a major breast cancer screening failure in England.
A computer glitch from as far back as 2009 means hundreds of thousands of women aged between 68 and 71 weren't invited to their final routine scan and it's feared it could affect women who've since moved to Scotland.
Ayrshire Central MP Dr Philippa Whitford says the Scottish Government should've been informed sooner: "It is clear the Department of Health knew about his issue since January and appear only to have have sent a quite routine note to the Scottish Goverment in mid-March suggesting that it was not a particularly big deal, but then this was escalated last week.
"There may be women in their late 60s who retired to Scotland from England and missed out on their last screening round." - Dr Philippa Whitford
"Women who've always been screened in Scoltand would not be affected, but there may be women in their late 60s who retired to Scotland from England and missed out on their last screening round."
"There's been a lot of effort in England to carry out the missing mamograms but we're still at a stage in Scotland where the Department of Health and Public Health England will just be working with NHS Scotland to identify how many women this applies to who now live in Scotland.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt aunched an independent review after he revealed a computer error dating back to 2009 meant 450,000 women could be affected, and that between 135 and 270 women could have had their lives shortened as a result, blaming "administrative incompetence''.
Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive at Breast Cancer Now, said it was a "colossal systemic failure''.
"It is beyond belief that this major mistake has been sustained for almost a decade and we need to know why this has been
allowed to happen.
"We are deeply saddened and extremely concerned to hear that so many women have been let down by such a colossal systemic failure.
"That hundreds of thousands of women have not received the screening invitations they've been relying upon, at a time when they may be most at risk of breast cancer, is totally unacceptable.''
Of those who missed invitations, 309,000 are estimated to still be alive and all those living in the UK who are registered with a GP will be contacted before the end of May.
All women who were not sent an invitation for their final screening will be given the opportunity to have a new appointment.
Those under the age of 72 will receive an appointment letter informing them of the time and date, while those over 72 will also be offered a screening and have access to a helpline to decide if it will be beneficial.
The helpline for those who think they may be affected is 0800 169 2692