THE REPORT into Britain's biggest cervical cancer smear test scare, in which more than 91,000 women had to be recalled for screening and 1,800 were discovered to have been wrongly given the all-clear, could hardly be more damning.

It found that the service in East Kent was characterised by poor management, understaffing, poor training and a breakdown in working relationships - for which, it said, there was no excuse.

And, equally disturbing, it said the situation was compounded by the introduction of the NHS internal market.

Comfort, however, must be drawn from the fact that the implications nationally are also addressed in that clearer lines of accountability are called for throughout the screening programme along with better policing of laboratory performance and better training.

Even more comforting is that the fact that those recommendations have been accepted by the government.

For, in the light of this scandal and of previous smear test scares elsewhere, what is vital is that confidence in the screening system is preserved.

Only if women have faith in the results will more of them take part in the vital checks which are a fundamental part of the campaign to reduce the toll of what is the fifth most common cancer among women.

It needs to be stressed that since the NHS screening programme was set up in 1988 deaths have fallen by a third - making it evident that the frightening and highly-publicised failings like this one in Kent are the exceptions.

Yet if, as the report into this case suggests, there is room for improvement throughout the service, it needs to be demonstrated swiftly and openly that measures are in place.

In that way confidence in smear test results will be kept at the highest possible level and a vital service, as a result, will be encouraged to become an even greater life-saver.

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