By Peter Lloyd for MailOnline
Published: 12:53 GMT, 11 February 2019 | Updated: 18:49 GMT, 11 February 2019
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The grieving family of a dedicated nurse are calling for a hospital-wide cervical cancer inquiry after doctors failed to spot the deadly condition.
Julie O'Connor, 49, from Bristol, died earlier this month - on February 4 - after repeatedly being given the all-clear by medics at Bristol's Southmead Hospital.
She was finally given a correct diagnosis when assessed privately, some three years after her initial smear test in 2014.
Now, her relatives are warning that other women may also have received false 'negative' results.
Misdiagnosed: Kevin O'Connor (right) and his wife Julie, who died of cancer earlier this month
Initially, doctors at Southmead said Ms O'Connor was suffering from cervical ectropion: a condition which causes cells from inside the cervix to form a red, inflamed patch on the outside of the lower uterus.
By the time the cervical cancer was eventually found it was terminal.
The family subsequently sued North Bristol NHS Trust, which admitted liability and offered monetary compensation.
They also confirmed that an independent review would look into her care this month.
However, Ms O'Connor's family want the investigation to be further-reaching and to help others.
Her husband Kevin, from Thornbury, said he believed other cases of cervical cancer in women may have been missed.
'One of the last things Julie said was that she didn't want to happen this to anybody else,' he told the BBC.
Too late: Ms O'Connor was finally given a correct diagnosis when assessed privately, some three years after
