Anna Lynch, director of public health at NHS County Durham and Darlington said: “Through our quality assurance process, we identified that some cervical smear tests taken at Bewick Crescent Surgery in Newton Aycliffe may not have reached a satisfactory standard.
“As a precaution, we have written to approximately 1000 women inviting them to attend for a repeat test to confirm the results of their original test.
“The risk that any cervical abnormalities have not been picked up is very low, but as a precaution we have invited the women involved to attend for a repeat test and have set up extra appointments so they can be seen quickly.  We have also arranged for their results to be available within two weeks of their test.
“Only women affected by this issue will receive a letter inviting them to attend for a repeat test. Women who do not receive a letter do not need to take any further action and should attend for their routine cervical screening test when advised.
“I would like to apologise to those women involved for any inconvenience or concern that this recall has raised, but would like to reassure them that this decision was taken in their best interests, is purely a precautionary measure and the risk to those women is very low.”
Anne Lynch