The Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, has expressed his concern that some cases of bowel cancer may have been missed at Wexford General Hospital.

The Minister has also expressed his sympathy to the families involved.

According to an RTÉ News report, an unpublished review contains details of around 12 missed cancers. In one of these cases, a person died and this was probably avoidable.

The problems arose after concerns were expressed about the quality of some of the screenings carried out as part of BowelScreen, the National Bowel Screening programme, at Wexford General in 2013 and 2014. As a result of this, some 600 patients who had already undergone a colonoscopy were recalled.

"The recall of patients that arose from a recheck of Bowel Screen colonoscopies at Wexford General Hospital in 2014 has been thoroughly and comprehensively investigated. Throughout the process, patients and their families have been provided with full information, appropriate follow up and treatment as needed in a timely manner," stated the Ireland East Hospital Group, which now manages the hospital.

Speaking about the issue on RTÉ radio, Donal Buggy of the Irish Cancer Society expressed concern that this could undermine public confidence in BowelScreen. He noted that uptake for the programme is already low, at around 40%.

Some 2,500 new cases of bowel cancer are diagnosed in Ireland every year and around 1,000 people die annually from the disease. If caught in the early stages, it is very treatable and survival rates are high.