Duncan Selbie, head of Public Health England, was last seen in public on May 1 (pictured) but has finally apologised for the scandal in a blog post to staff
The £220,000-a-year health boss facing calls to quit amid claims the breast cancer scandal has been kept secret for 14 months has finally offered a ‘heartfelt and unreserved’ apology to the 450,000 victims and their families.
Duncan Selbie runs Public Health England (PHE), who last night made the extraordinary concession that it had been made aware of problems with the screening scheme as far back as March 2017.
There are 309,000 women anxiously waiting for a scan to tell them whether they have cancer and the first appointment letters have been sent to 61,000 of them today.
Up to 270 women died early after not getting a final 68 to 71 breast screening and their loved-ones have called for sackings at the very top of the NHS and PHE.
The fact PHE was warned of problems 14 months ago raises further questions over the competency of the body and its chief executive.
But Mr Selbie, who was last seen in public on May 1, has been silent until today when he apologised for the scandal halfway through his ‘Friday Message’ to staff released on his blog – 48 hours after the crisis was revealed.
He told PHE workers that cancer screening programmes must ‘offer hope and reassurance to people’, as well as helping ‘prolonging and preserving life’.
He said: ‘So when things go wrong, we understand how devastating this can be’.
Mr Selbie has been silent until today when he apologised for the scandal halfway through his ‘Friday Message’ to staff released on his blog – 48 hours after the crisis was revealed
NHS England’s chief executive Simon Stevens and NHS Digital’s head Sarah Wilkinson have yet to speak out about the scandal
Mr Selbie added: ‘We know this will be extremely distressing for many. On behalf of PHE and NHS breast screening services, our apology is heartfelt and unreserved. PHE and the NHS are working round-the-clock to offer advice and ensure that every person affected will be offered appropriate follow-up.
‘At the forefront of our thoughts are those people affected and their families and they will remain the focus of our attention and efforts to ensure that all organisations involved carry out the next steps with the efficiency and sensitivity needed’.
Yesterday one of his deputies, Dr Jenny Harries, the PHE’s deputy medical director, appeared on the BBC’s Today programme instead of him to discuss the crisis.
Lee Towsey believes his mother, who died from breast cancer aged 70, was a victim of the scandal and believes managers like Mr Selbie should be forced to quit.
He said: ‘It’s outrageous and it’s disgusting. Someone has to be held responsible for this error.’
Public Health England, the NHS, NHS Digital and the Department of Health are all taking responsibility for the blunder.
But NHS England boss Simon Stevens has not spoken out about his knowledge of the scandal.
He was last seen a week ago where he said that the housing assets of older people should be taxed to pay for social care.
NHS Digital’s head Sarah Wilkinson, who took over last year, has not spoken about the colossal IT failure. She was last seen a week ago speaking about cyber security.
Only Jeremy Hunt has fronted up about the crisis.
When Mr Selbie took charge of Public Health England, he was the first to admit his credentials could fit ‘on a postage stamp’.
Now five years into his £220k -a-year post, he has found himself at the centre of one of the biggest scandals ever to hit the NHS.
The face of public health in England has not spoken publicly since the revelations that the breast screening programme blunder could have cut short the lives of 270 women on his watch.
Born in the Scottish city of Dundee, Selbie left school at 15 before starting a diverse career with the NHS.
After a year at college, took a job as a clerical officer in the NHS at North Tayside in 1980.
From there, he worked his way up to become the health chief of three major NHS organisations before taking the helm of the new agency set up to protect and improve the nation’s health.
Starting as chief executive at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, he went on to be head of South East London Strategic Health Authority before taking the top job at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals.
Patricia Minchin, 75, said she was not offered a screening in 2013 when she turned 70, and is battling breast cancer – one of 450,000 women Jeremy Hunt admitted the NHS forgot because of an IT glitch
Between 2003 and 2007 he was the Director General of Programmes and Performance for the Department of Health and subsequently its first Director General of Commissioning.
But he admitted his own surprise at being chosen to run the new public health service watchdog.
PHE was established on 1 April 2013 to bring together public health specialists from more than 70 organisations into a single public health service.
At the time in an editorial for the Lancet medical journal, he joked about his lack of experience.
‘I am that well known international expert’, he said. ‘You can fit my public health credentials on a postage stamp, but this is what I want to do for the next number of years because it matters so much.’ Since then, he has become well-known for his often frank assessments of the nation’s health.
In March, he announced that ‘Britain needs to go on a diet’ in response to the growing obesity epidemic.
Last year he suggested that small businesses could encourage staff to hold ‘walking meetings’ in the local park in a bid to improve their employees’ health.
The NHS’s breast cancer screening is meant to be offered to all women aged 50-70, every three years. But on Wednesday, Jeremy Hunt revealed up to 450,000 women had not been invited to the checks between 2009 and 2018. This is thought to have been caused by an IT fault which meant letters did not go out to those in the 68-71 age group.
Bereaved relatives and women who have had mastectomies are calling for the officials responsible to be held to account.
Widower George Baczkowski, whose wife Ann died from breast cancer after not being invited to checks, said: ‘I don’t blame anyone for her death but I do want answers and accountability.’ The 73-year-old of Swardeston, near Norwich, said he was asking: ‘Could she still be with us?’
Helen Jarvis, 72, who had a mastectomy after missed scans meant her cancer was picked up late, said: ‘I feel so angry on behalf of so many women. In particular those women who went on to have aggressive breast cancer and died … Somebody needs to fall on their sword.’
Brian Gough, whose wife Trixie died in 2015 after not receiving a scan invitation, said: ‘These things don’t just happen … Somebody somewhere along the line has made a massive error.’
Baroness Delyth Morgan, of Breast Cancer Now, said: ‘If there were cases coming to light much earlier than January this year, we have to ask the question why wasn’t there action taken sooner?’
Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt launched an inquiry to establish what went wrong and who is accountable, due to report back in six months.
A PHE spokesman yesterday confirmed it was warned of issues with the scheme 14 months ago. Two trusts in London and the Midlands expressed concerns that women aged 68-71 were not receiving letters. When asked to investigate, computer firm Hitachi Consulting reported back that it was only a ‘local issue’.
Concerns were raised again in December 2017 by academics carrying out research into extending the scheme. PHE realised it was a national problem in January and by March became aware it had affected hundreds of thousands.
Yesterday Theresa May’s spokesman said the delay in telling the public was necessary to ensure ‘correct systems were in place’, including a helpline and ensuring clinics can cope with all the women coming in for checks.
He refused to say whether the Prime Minister had full confidence in PHE.
The problems with breast cancer screening date back to 2009 but NHS bosses failed to reveal it until this year
‘Mum is dead and someone must pay’: Grieving son hits out at ‘disgusting’ breast scan blunders as other families tell of their heartache
Lee Towsey believes his mother (pictured together) is a victim of the ‘outrageous and disgusting’ screening scandal
Lee Towsey believes his mother is a victim of the ‘outrageous and disgusting’ screening scandal.
Rita Towsey, who died at the age of 70, was diagnosed with stage three cancer after finding a lump in her breast and going to her doctor.
Her son said Mrs Towsey had not been called for a screening for several years before her diagnosis – which could potentially have detected the cancer earlier.
He said: ‘My mum is dead, I can’t bring her back now, but what I do want is for someone to take responsibility for this. It’s outrageous and it’s disgusting. Someone has to be held responsible for this error. I know my mother and I know she would have gone along if she had been invited for a scan. But she just did not receive one.’
Mr Towsey, 52, added: ‘The doctors told her at the time that if she had come in sooner they would have been able to handle it better. She would have had a better chance.’
Mr Towsey, an events manager from Brighton, said that when he saw news of the scandal this week, he quickly realised his mother was a victim. He added: ‘It was only when she found the lump that she finally had the scan.
‘The last time we knew of her having a scan was many years ago. How did no one notice that women of a certain age across the country were not being screened?’
Mr Towsey says his mother should have been contacted, particularly because her records would have shown that she had a hysterectomy after suffering from cervical cancer in her 30s.
Rowena Herniman says she never received a letter for routine screening, and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016
Helen Jarvis (left) was diagnosed with breast cancer this year after her GP noticed she had not been screened for four years. Ann Baczkowski died in 2014, two years after being diagnosed with stage two breast cancer. She had not had a mammogram for several years (right)
He said: ‘She had cancer before so she was at risk. She had scans for her breast at the time and I remember her telling me about it. But she was not called for her routine checks in her later life.’ Mr Towsey has tried contacting the new NHS helpline set up to assist those affected, but said he found it was ‘not fit for purpose’.
Retired domestic assistant Mrs Towsey, who lived in Deal, Kent, found a lump in her breast in 2010. She passed away two years later, leaving behind her husband of 50 years Keith, two children and five grandchildren.
Mr Towsey, a retired caretaker, died shortly after from what his son described as a ‘broken heart’.
‘Her instinct said something was wrong’
Ann Baczkowski died in 2014, just two years after being diagnosed with stage two breast cancer. She had not had a mammogram for several years and her family suspect she may have been overlooked because of the glitch.
As soon as her husband George, 73, heard the news that hundreds of women had been affected by the NHS error, he realised his wife was probably one of them.
‘She fitted the right age and the right profile to be among those they now say died needlessly,’ the retired airline pilot said. ‘She was a clever woman and her instinct told her something was not right.
‘She asked her doctor for a scan but he insisted that she did not need one. But two years later, when her condition worsened, she went back – and this time was sent straight to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital for a scan.
‘She had a mastectomy but by then the cancer had spread to her shoulder and lymph gland.’
Polish-born Mr Baczkowski, speaking at his home in Swardeston, near Norwich, said: ‘I don’t blame anyone for her death but I do want answers and accountability… it was at a time of austerity when cuts were being made to things like the health service.’
Daughter Helen, a conservationist, told the BBC: ‘My mum was 70 in 2010. She was diagnosed in 2012 and then died in 2014.
‘At the time she was diagnosed, both my father and I remember having conversations with her where she said, “Do you know what, I haven’t been called for screening for some time”.’
She added: ‘I think we will have to accept that we’ll never know. I guess at the end of the day, the important thing now is to help those women who are still alive who need screening.’
‘I’m so angry on behalf of so many women’
Helen Jarvis was diagnosed with breast cancer this year after her GP noticed she had not been screened for four years.
The 72-year-old has had to undergo two three-hour operations in successive days because the delay had allowed her tumour to grow out of control.
Mrs Jarvis, of Newton Pagnell, Milton Keynes, should have been screened last year, as she was entitled to a check-up in the year leading up to her 71st birthday.
When she contacted the dedicated NHS helpline yesterday, she was told she was among the women affected by the fiasco.
The pensioner went to see her doctor in February after discovering a lump on her left breast.
At first her GP seemed unconcerned and took action only after checking Mrs Jarvis’s records, which showed she was overdue a check-up. She was fast-tracked to Milton Keynes University Hospital and a month later scans indicated she required a mastectomy. But the tumour had become invasive, which it might not have been had she been diagnosed a year earlier.
‘I feel so angry on behalf of so many women,’ she told the Mail. ‘In particular those women who went on to have aggressive breast cancer and died. That is appalling.’
The former occupational therapist described her experience as a ‘difficult time’ after two gruelling operations in successive days in April. She is now making a slow but steady recovery.
‘I haven’t had any communication at all’
Rowena Herniman says she never received a letter for routine screening, and was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016.
The 70-year-old, from Surbiton, told the BBC: ‘I haven’t had any communication at all to ask me to go for a mammogram.
‘When I went to my GP, he said, “have you had any requests?” I said, “no, I haven’t”, and he said, “Hmm, you should have done”.
‘That might well have saved my surgery, saved the NHS money – who’s to say?’