We are deeply saddened at the news which broke yesterday concerning and the extent of the number of people that the failure has potentially affected.
It is clear from the statement made to the House of Commons by Jeremy Hunt that work still needs to be done to establish the actual number of people who may have lost their lives as a result of an in comprehendible failure. A failure not only in the technology involved but also to have safeguards in place to catch this at its earliest opportunity.
Ladies Fighting Breast Cancer will await the outcome of the independent review before making any further comment in respect of what has gone wrong.
We would urge anyone who is affected to contact the Helpline promised by Mr Hunt to obtain the clinical advice offered.
As a small local charity who has raised over £1m to put crucial life-saving equipment into Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth hospital, to include a Pink Mobile Mammogram unit, we are fully aware the huge benefits of detecting and treating breast cancer at the earliest opportunity and recognise that in this country we are fortunate to have the screening programme which does screen 2m people a year. This will be little comfort to those who have lost loved ones and those who have had a later breast cancer diagnosis than was necessary. We will be looking to support anyone affected by this in our region in any way that we can.
