An admin error dating back to 2008 meant that 5,261 patients weren’t invited for routine screening when their details failed to reach the correct IT systems.
The issue occurred when GP practices did not fully complete patient registrations, preventing the information from being passed onto NHS screening programme systems.
As a result, more than 5,200 patients were not invited to routine bowel, breast and cervical cancer screening programmes, as well as abdominal aortic aneurysm screening, NHS England said.
It is believed that around 10 people who were not invited for screening may have since died, but it is not clear whether any screening could have prevented the deaths.
In a statement, Steve Russell, NHS national director for vaccinations and screening, said the issue had since been fixed and that NHS England was in the process of contacting those affected.
“The NHS is contacting 5,261 people who have not been invited for screening due to their GP registration not being fully completed – this issue has now been fixed and everyone affected will be offered support and any catch-up screening as soon as possible, including where they may now be above screening age.
“We would like to extend our sincere apologies to those affected for this error and any additional worry this may have caused – anyone who is concerned they may have missed an invitation to screening can call our dedicated helpline for support and further information,” Russell said.
NHSE added it has since put processes in place to make sure that new GP registrations are closely monitored and properly updated on relevant systems.
The administrative error was first identified in 2024 after a small number of patients contacted their GP to tell them they’d not been invited in for screening.
NHSE subsequently discovered that some GP registrations were returned by Primary Care Support England for further information or review, but were not finalised.
In other cases, GP practices failed to send the necessary confirmation to complete the registration, meaning they weren’t transferred to NHS screening systems.
Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, told Digital Health News: “As GPs, the health and wellbeing of our patients is our number one priority, so it’s distressing to hear that some people may have missed health interventions as a result of inadvertent administrative errors.
“GP practices take the management of their patient records very seriously but if mistakes happen, it’s important robust safeguards are in place to identify and rectify them, so that patients can continue to receive the care and services they need.
“Now that the issue has been identified, serious action must be taken to contact those who have been affected – and we have been reassured this has already started – and ensure that steps are taken so that something similar cannot happen again.”
In November 2024, it was revealed that an IT upgrade at Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust resulted in more than 9,000 letters to GPs being delayed by up to three weeks, 900 of which related to urgent follow-ups.