Following a review of more than 1,200 breast cancer screenings, the Department for Health and Social Security has confirmed that there appears to have been no further cases of breast cancer found.

Concerns were raised a year ago about the work of a single radiologist at Noble’s Hospital when five women, whose screenings he had checked and given the all-clear, presented with symptoms of breast cancer.

The radiologist concerned, who has not been named, had already left the island before the problems were uncovered.

The discovery led to the department deciding to review all 1,213 cases the doctor had worked on during his time at the hospital. The review was conducted by radiologists at centres in the UK.

A spokesman for the department said: ’The images in each case were sent for review by at least two radiologists, and their findings subsequently reviewed and discussed again when they were received back at Nobles.’

Although the great majority of cases reviewed showed no signs of the disease, 26 were deemed to require further investigation and it was at this point, in early May, that the department revealed information about the scare publicly. All the women whose reviews showed no evidence of the disease had been written letters of reassurance at this point and a helpline was opened.

The helpline, which was manned by nurses, received 145 calls.

The department has now been able to confirm that none of the 26 women whose cases were investigated further have shown signs of the disease although one of them will require reassessment.

Of the other, 21 were discharged following reassessment; two have proved to be uncontactable ongoing efforts; one declined to be reassessed, and one had moved and was reassessed in her local hospital with no further action was required.

The department is not yet in a position to reveal the costs of the review, nor are any further details being released about the five women whose symptoms sparked the review.

DHSC Minister David Ashford said: ’The department could have taken the approach of just doing a sample check. I think we took the much more sensible approach of saying we would review the entire workload. It was a huge undertaking.’

At the time of announcing the review Mr Ashford also pledged ’to investigate fully the causes of this issue to establish why practice within one of our services at Noble’s Hospital fell short of the high standards we should all expect.’

The department has confirmed that it has reported the radiologist concerned to the General Medical Council for possible investigation.