People are confused, frightened and don’t know what’s happening, says MLA:
A NORTHERN Ireland health trust at the centre of a growing misdiagnosis scandal has been accused of hiding behind a wall of silence.
The Belfast Trust came under criticism after failing to answer a series of questions around Dr Michael Watt.
A high-level review of the work of Dr Watt, a neurology consultant, has led to the biggest ever recall of patients by the trust.
Some 2,500 patients are being summoned back for a case review over fears they have been misdiagnosed.
And last night Kathy Jack, medical director of the Belfast Trust, was unable to say whether anyone had died as a result of misdiagnoses by the suspended neurologist. “I cannot say that at the moment,” she told the BBC.
Yesterday the Belfast Telegraph send a list of questions to the trust about the growing scandal. However, it answered none of them ( see right).
North Belfast SDLP MLA Nichola Mallon said she had contacted the Belfast Trust about Dr Watt in December 2017, but had not received satisfactory answers to her questions.
“I was met by a brick wall, and the patients were met with a brick wall,” she said.
The Assemblywoman said she had been inundated with calls from worried patients who had received a recall letter — and also from patients of Dr Watt who had not received any letter.
“They are frightened and confused, and don’t know what is happening,” she said. “We don’t need this wall of silence. It only serves to make the patients and the public more anxious.”
Strangford DUP MP Jim Shannon said last night that the trust had a lot to do to restore people’s confidence.
“We need transparency. This is a massive issue. People’s concerns must be addressed,” the DUP health spokesman said.
“Facts need to be known, and people must have their minds put at rest. People have a right to know what’s happened to them.”
The top civil servant at the Department of Health, Richard Pengelly, has called in health watchdog the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) to review neurology outpatient services. The department has also ordered the RQIA to ensure the records of all Dr Watt’s patients who’ve died over the past decade are subject to expert review.
Alliance health spokeswoman Paula Bradshaw MLA said: “My concern is about how long it’s going to take for patients to be absolutely assured that they have a safe diagnosis and that they’re on the correct care plan. With neurological conditions, every day, week and month is crucial.”
UUP health spokesman Roy Beggs MLA said: “I simply cannot understand how, when concerns were raised in December 2016, it has taken until May 2018 for patients to be notified that they have potentially been misdiagnosed and have been receiving the wrong treatment ever since. This is not some administrative error — these are people’s lives we are talking about.”
Sinn Fein health spokesman Pat Sheehan MLA added: “There does seem to be some lack of clarity and a lack of communication between the relevant agencies on that issue and that is very concerning.”