It is estimated that the programme has saved more than 8000 lives in that time. Professor Richards said it was unlikely that the problems of wrongly interpreted smears was restricted to Leicestershire. For women who are worried about that, if they wish to discuss this with their gynaecologist they are able to do so. Figures show that 83.7 per cent of women of screening age have had a smear in the last five years with 3.3 million women aged 25 to 64 screened. Looking down a microscope trying to spot cancer cells is repetitive and boring.
Human error is inevitable despite checks and double checks.
But until this latest report no-one knew how common they were. Between 1993 and 2000 Leicester was a snapshot of the whole country. 324 women had two routine smear tests at the normal five-year interval. In 84 cases the first test was negative but should have been positive. And 14 women died who might not have.