A radiologist missed breast cancer in 61 women who were wrongly given the all-clear, an independent report has revealed.

Dr Glenn Kelly failed to update his medical skills as he misdiagnosed 20 women who were later recalled and told they had breast cancer, the inquiry found.

An independent review found the doctor responsible for the screening errors at Accrington Victoria Hospital had not conducted full and complete assessment checks for up to nine years. Another 41 women were later found to have had their diagnosis of cancer delayed because of incorrect screenings he carried out between 2000 and 2006.

The report to East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust by Frank Burns, former chief executive of Wirral Hospital NHS Trust, also criticised the failure of colleagues to raise concerns and the lack of an effective appraisal system.

The radiologist – Dr X as he is known in the report - rose to be the trust's director of breast screening has not undertaken clinical work since April 2009.

He is suspended from duty pending disciplinary proceedings. Of 276 of his cases reviewed between August 2006 and December 2008 in which patients were given the all-clear, 86 women were re-tested and 20 were diagnosed with breast cancer.

In his report, Mr Burns said: "There was a straightforward and a single root cause for the missed cancers.

"One particular consultant in the unit (Dr X) failed to update his practical screening assessment skills in line with changing practice.

"Over a period of many years going back to at least 2001 he routinely failed to carry out a full and complete assessment (as stipulated in national guidelines) on significant numbers of his patients."

He continued: "Dr X's need for additional training to improve his assessment practice was discussed during an annual appraisal in 2005 but he did not make the necessary arrangements to undertake this training and no follow up mechanism existed between appraisals to ensure he did this."

The report said the doctor never became proficient in a diagnostic technique called ultrasound guided core biopsy, which national guidelines recommended.

The Trust has apologised to the women affected, but bosses say lessons have now been learned. A a range of measures have been put in place, including better incident reporting and strengthened consultant appraisal.

Rineke Schram, Medical Director of East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "Women in East Lancashire can be confident in the service offered by the East Lancashire Breast Screening Programme, and I encourage them to continue to attend for breast screening. The service in East Lancashire performs very well, exceeding government targets for cancer detection. Processes for breast screening assessment have been further strengthened."