HUMAN error following breast cancer screening assessments has been blamed for the delayed diagnosis of 10 women, an investigation has ruled.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust refused to say if the employee had been faced any disciplinary action but said lessons had been learned.

The review was initially launched after concerns were raised about a number of cases of potentially missed breast cancer.

As a result more than 600 women, who had been screened and had additional tests between May 2011 and March 2014 by the same doctor, had their cases reviewed by national experts.

Of those, 30 patients were retested and a total of 10 women were diagnosed with cancer.

In the investigation findings released today the trust says that the errors made by the doctor involved 'were due to human error' and that the standard of assessment 'fell below the expected level as a result of those errors'.

The trust has confirmed that the doctor is no longer involved in the assessments and hasn't been since the investigation began but could not say if they had faced any other action because of staff confidentiality.

It has said new measures are in place to prevent anything similar happening in the future. Women now being assessed at the Churchill have screenings reviewed by two radiologists. A confidential record is also kept of the numbers of errors made each year by an individual radiologist and a new breast screening Quality Assurance Reference Centre radiology annual questionnaire has also been produced.

Medical director Dr Tony Berendt said: "While it has taken longer than we would have hoped to publish the Trust’s final position in respect of the care we delivered, it has always been our priority to thoroughly investigate and to learn from this incident. Specific learning and actions have already been incorporated into standard practice.

“I would like to reassure the women of Oxfordshire that there are no concerns about how the screening service now functions. Women can be confident about the quality of the service they receive.

Mr Berendt added that the trust was "extremely sorry" for the distress and anxiety the incident caused to any women who received a diagnosis of breast cancer, and to those women who were recalled as part of the investigation and said they had apologised individually to the women whose breast cancer diagnosis was delayed as a result of the incident.

Following the recall process, the Oxfordshire Breast Screening Service was reviewed by the National Breast Screening Service and no concerns about outcomes for any other women who went through the breast screening service.

Through the National NHS Breast Screening Service all women aged between 50 and 70 are invited for breast screening every three years.

The five women who developed cancer during the three-year period between routine screenings were the initial trigger for the investigation.

Dr Nicola Winstone, research officer for Abingdon-based charity Against Breast Cancer, said: "Breast cancer is generally easier to treat the earlier it is diagnosed, and our charity welcomes the news that lessons have been learnt and processes put in place to ensure that the mammogram screening service delivered in Oxfordshire is as robust and as rigorous as possible."