Q&A: Why are women waiting for cases to be reviewed?

Q: What is the latest crisis facing the Government from the ongoing fallout over its handling of the CervicalCheck scandal?

A: It emerged yesterday that an expert review by the UK-based Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of CervicalCheck smear test results has yet to begin.

Q: When was this supposed to begin?

A: On May 2, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: “The review will be led by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, who will try to identify the genuine false negatives and those cases which should have been reported differently. We believe this can be completed by the end of May. On July 5, Health Minister Simon Harris said the review would begin “very, very shortly”.

Q: What has been going for the last three months?

A: There have been ongoing discussions between the Department of Health and the Royal College about methodology and terms of reference for the review of smear-test results.

Q: And what’s happening now?

A: Last Friday, a group of 221 women who received incorrect smear-test results received HSE information packs on actions the Government had taken on the scandal. Included in the pack was a letter telling them they would soon be sent consent forms which, if they signed, would allow the HSE to send their smear tests to the Royal College for examination.

Q: When are they going to receive the consent form?

A: According to Health Minister Simon Harris they will receive the consent forms next week.

Q: Are these the only women who will have their smear-test results examined by the medical experts?

A: No. Around 1,800 women who went through the screening process and were diagnosed with cervical cancer are entitled to have their files reviewed.

Q: Did all those women get cervical cancer because they got incorrect smeartest results?

A: No. The only women who the HSE believes for certain were affected by the incorrect results are the 221 who are being contacted first by the HSE.

Q: What happens after the Royal College gets the files? A: The agency reviews the screening, cytological and clinical history case notes of those women, a) who are identified as discordant cytology results, and b) who had colposcopic management over six months prior to diagnosis.

Q: How do the women find out the results?

A: They will be contacted directly and given full details.