Inquiry launched into 450,000 missed breast cancer screenings

A breast cancer screening error affecting 450,000 women may have led to hundreds of lives being cut short, health secretary Jeremy Hunt has revealed. Hunt said that a computer algorithm failure dating back to 2009 had meant that many women aged 68 to 71 were not invited to their final routine screening. It is not known whether any delay in diagnosis resulted in avoidable death, but it is estimated that between 135 and 270 women had their lives shortened as a result, he said. The issue was first brought to the attention of the Department of Health and Social Care in January, but was initially thought to pose a "limited" risk to patients. It was escalated to ministers in March by Public Health England (PHE), with the Government told the error should not be made public to ensure existing screening services were not overwhelmed.