Enda McGarrity outside Stormont with the Ladies with Letters

Three years after approximately 17,500 women were informed by the Southern Health and Social Care Trust (SHSCT) that cervical smear tests may have been incorrectly reported over a 13-year period, many families remain without answers. The campaign has highlighted the devastating human impact of the failings, with eight women having developed cervical cancer and three women having sadly lost their lives.

The P.A. Duffy & Co team has worked closely with a number of the women and families affected. While multiple reviews have taken place, campaigners believe significant questions remain unanswered regarding how the failings occurred, whether warning signs were missed, and whether lessons have truly been learned.

As part of its ongoing campaign, Ladies with Letters recently gathered at Stormont alongside elected representatives, women’s organisations and affected families to renew calls for a Statutory Public Inquiry.

Enda McGarrity, director at P.A. Duffy & Co Solicitors, said: “We stand with the women and families behind the Ladies with Letters campaign in their pursuit of truth, accountability and justice. For many of those affected, this has never simply been about statistics or reports. It is about understanding how these failings occurred, why opportunities to identify problems may have been missed and ensuring that everything possible is done to prevent similar failings in the future.

A statutory public inquiry would provide the transparency and scrutiny needed to answer these outstanding questions. The women of Northern Ireland deserve nothing less.”

Ladies with Letters was established by women affected by the cervical screening scandal within the Southern Health and Social Care Trust. The group was formed to seek answers, support those impacted, promote accountability and campaign for a statutory public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the failings.