Minister quizzed on breast screening review

The island's health minister will be asked the question in the States Chamber on Tuesday

Jersey's health minister said "a lot of work" had been done to improve the island's breast screening service.

Deputy Tom Binet was asked by Deputy Lucy Stephenson what he planned to do to address issues identified in a review of the island's breast screening service during a States Assembly meeting on Tuesday.

It comes after the health service contacted a number of patients for "precautionary" further tests after concerns there may have been "false negatives" on breast screenings.

Mr Binet told the States there had been a lot of work to improve the service - but he could not give details of any work still outstanding.

Deputy Tom Binet will be asked about his plans after a review which identified issues in the health department

He also said he did not publicise the details of the problems with the islands breast screening programme immediately, because he did not want to alarm people unnecessarily.

He told members he had known about the problems in January - but thought patients should be contacted directly before it was made public.

Speaking to the BBC on Monday, Jersey's deputy medical director Simon West said he could not guarantee there would not be more issues uncovered within the health department.

He said the department was now run better, and staff were encouraged to report problems they found.

"As we go through the next few months and years, you may see other things occurring within HCS, it's an indication of how strongly we're trying to improve the overall service of health delivered to the population of Jersey", Mr West said.

'Abundance of caution'

The Royal College of Radiologists and the British Society of Breast Radiologists reviewed the work of one radiologist - after another staff member raised questions about their work.

Health and Community Services (HCS) said it had invited 20 patients, out of 2,798 reviewed, to come for further tests - and had contacted another 14 people where there may have been a delayed diagnosis.

It said patients were being recalled as a "precautionary check... out of an abundance of caution, and with patient safety as its number one priority."