Hse chief knew about cancer scandal two years ago
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SHAMED HSE chief Tony O’brien quit last night after it was revealed he was warned two years ago of the cervical cancer scandal.
The director general stood down following a dramatic day in which documents showed he knew about the emerging storm in March 2016.
This was completely at odds with his claim he only learned about the controversy last month.
One of the most damning lines in a memo he was shown to have received in March 2016 warned media headlines could read “screening did not diagnose my cancer”.
His resignation was confirmed in a statement from Health Minister Simon Harris in which he thanked Mr O’brien for his “many years of service and dedication”.
He added: “I know he is standing down from his role today because he believes it is in the best interest of rebuilding public confidence in the wake of the issues which have arisen in Cervicalcheck.”
Earlier, documents handed over to the Public Accounts Committee had revealed the HSE chief received a memo in March 2016 advising him of problems with the screening audit.
He had repeatedly claimed he only found out about the scandal last month when the case of whistleblower Vicky Phelan was reported by RTE.
However, he told the PAC yesterday he remembered getting a certain memo in “early 2016” but could not recall exact details.
The document released to the committee is a collation of three messages sent between March and July 2016.
Under the heading “Next Steps” in the memo, prepared by Cervicalcheck programme manager John Gleeson, the following advice is given to Mr O’brien: Pause all letters Await advice of solicitors Decide on the order and volume of dispatch to mitigate any potential risks, and
Continue to prepare reactive communications response for a media headline that [could read] “screening did not diagnose my cancer”.
This is remarkably similar to advice given to Minister Harris on April 16 this year which kicked off the controversy after Ms Phelan brought her case to court.
The Department of Health’s most senior representative at yesterday’s meeting, chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan, disputed the contents of much of the memo.
However, admitted: “I knew there was a clinical audit.”
It is not yet known if the Health
Minister at the time, the current Taoiseach, was also aware. There had been a General Election in February 2016 but a new Government wasn’t formed until May 6 so Mr Varadkar stayed in the role until that date.
It was then taken over by Simon Harris. Both were therefore in charge when the memos were sent between March and July.
The briefing note from March 2016 is unsigned and nobody before the PAC was able to confirm who had authored it. The other two are dated July 2016 and were signed by the most senior figures in Cervicalcheck – programme manager Mr Gleeson, National Director, Health and Wellbeing, Dr Stephanie Keeffe and Simon Murtagh, Acting Head, National Screening Service, Health and Wellbeing Division.
All three are broadly similar in content and recommend reporting any errors to patients’ doctors, not to the patients themselves.
The briefing note received by Mr Harris on April 16 advised the same course of action but added: “More recently, women are informed.”
The focus in the earlier memos is on the possibility patients whose cancers