Almost one year on from the death of 44-year-old Tandragee mother-of-four, Erin Harbinson, campaigners are renewing calls for a full Statutory Public Inquiry into widespread failings in Northern Ireland’s cervical screening programme.
Erin, from the Southern Trust area, passed away on August 10, 2024 following a prolonged and courageous battle with cervical cancer.
Her diagnosis came after three smear tests – in 2012, 2015 and 2018 – were misread by the Trust’s laboratory, for which the it has apologised.
In April 2024, just months before her passing and fresh from hospital, Erin joined campaign group Ladies With Letters at Stormont to personally urge then-Health Minister Robin Swann to launch an inquiry. Her bravery, despite immense pain, was hailed as a selfless act to protect others.
She had planned to return to Stormont in September to meet Health Minister Mike Nesbitt, but died before she could. Her place was taken by her partner, Trevor Harbinson.
Campaigners say that recent revelations confirm that underperformance occurred not just in the Southern Trust, but across all cervical screening laboratories in Northern Ireland between 2008 and 2021.
They are demanding answers to three key questions: How did this happen? Why was it allowed to continue unchecked for over a decade? Who knew about the failings and failed to act?
“Witnesses must be compelled,” reads the group’s latest statement, “and a Statutory Public Inquiry is the only way to ensure transparency and accountability.”
Campaigners argue that women diagnosed with cervical cancer before 2019 are only informed of potential misread tests if they ask, calling it “morally wrong” that this information is not routinely disclosed. They say affected women deserve the right to pursue legal redress.
The statement also highlighted the case of 30-year-old Co Armagh woman Lyndsey Courtney, who died in 2018 due to similar failings. Her parents, Ron and Sandra, were promised that lessons would be learned. But Erin’s third misread test occurred in the very same year.
Campaigners are now directly appealing to Health Minister Mike Nesbitt to act.
“You have said you are committed to a Women’s Health Strategy. What better way to honour that than to launch a full inquiry, answer the questions that need answering, and prevent this from ever happening again?”
The call is backed by growing public pressure and the memory of women like Erin and Lyndsey, whose lives – campaigners say – were needlessly cut short.
