After all that happened in 2018, how could CervicalCheck decide in 2019 not to communicate with women?

Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Health Stephen Donnelly says that he is flabbergasted that after all the CervicalCheck controversaries during 2018, a conscious decision could be taken not to communicate with women about their tests.

Deputy Donnelly expressed his frustration that women were let down yet again but said it was vitally important that women continued with the screening service.

He explained, “The report carried out by Professor Brian MacCraith rightly highlights ‘a constant theme of women frustrated by poor service and lack of information, their information’ . Given the failures to communicate in previous years how could this situation be allowed to develop again? It is simply outrageous and frankly incomprehensible. It is symptomatic of a complete aversion to open disclosure.

“The findings in relation to the addition of the QD Chantilly Laboratory are also alarming. According to the report this took place without ‘proper operational due diligence, risk assessment of the downstream implementation and, therefore, risk mitigation’.

“The report acknowledges CervicalCheck’s good intentions – it added the lab because of a major backlog of samples but good intentions can never triumph over due diligence.

“Of course, this latest debacle stems from the Minister for Health’s decision to offer repeat out of cycle smear tests when the crisis broke in April 2018 – a decision made in spite of repeated expert warnings that doing so would lead to the backlogs.

“Sharon’s story, as contained in the report, is deeply disturbing. What is clear, is that from her first email to the day the story broke on RTÉ, Sharon was treated appallingly by the Minister’s office, the Department of Health and the HSE. For her to be told in an email that cervical cancer ‘would normally develop over a period of 10 to 15 years’ was totally insensitive and disrespectful.

“The report makes it clear that the Government has serious questions to answer. The mismatch between what the Minister knew and what he said he knew raises questions about political accountability.

“Why did the Minister state that he was only briefed on 9th July, when we now know that there was numerous correspondence from the Minister’s office to Sharon from as far back as April? Why is the Department disputing Sharon’s account that the Minister was in fact briefed? Why did the Minister’s office only seek Sharon’s PPS number in June? If it was to make a representation on her behalf, why wasn’t this done in April or May? Why was Sharon treated so poorly throughout this entire affair? How many other women have been, and continue to be, treated as poorly? We need answers to these questions.

“The HSE CEO says that the recommendations of the MacCraith report will be swiftly implemented. That is welcome. However further scrutiny is needed, and I believe that the Oireachtas Health Committee needs to question those responsible for this latest CervicalCheck fiasco. We really need to hear why they thought it appropriate not to tell the women affected, he concluded.