Professor Ann O'Doherty:

I welcome that question. The interval cancer rate is two per 1,000. We screened 145,000 in the year I referred to. If there are two per 1,000, then there were 290 interval cancers in that time.

I have been working for 30 years in breast screening. I reckon I would not have had more than one medical legal case - a case with solicitors involved - per year. In my unit in the past two weeks we have had 15 such cases. My great concern for this country is that the litigation will cost so much and that this will result in the Parliament telling us to stop screening since it is costing so much. Moreover, I fear all the resources will instead be put into symptomatic breast cancer. There is a significant requirement for resources in symptomatic breast cancer. We have gone from 7,000 attendances nationally to over 40,000. I am concerned that we may be asking as a country whether we can afford this. There have been 15 cases in the past two weeks but previously the rate was not even one per year. The same solicitors are involved. There has been a major focus on solicitors and litigation in the media. We are now seeing that in my numbers and there are four units in total. There is a major concern over whether we will be able to continue screening.