We have finally heard women’s voices – now build on that

SYMPHYSIOTOMY, hepatitis C and now CervicalCheck. The Scally report recounts in vivid detail how women were treated appallingly, once again, by the health service in Ireland. We will remain forever grateful to Vicky Phelan, who resisted the confidentiality clause, ensuring we knew about this scandal. The report is another example of how poorly women have been treated by medical professionals they should have been able to trust, and depend on. Importantly, its findings vindicate what we have consistently heard from the women affected and patient advocates. The failures highlighted relate to how CervicalCheck was organised and run; how information about their smears was kept from the women; and also, once the scandal broke in April, how they were communicated with in a manner many of them found to be unsatisfactory, inappropriate, damaging, hurtful and offensive. Some of the descriptions of how the 221 women and their families were informed are shockingly paternalistic, and in some cases, misogynistic. Dr Scally recounted how, in a disclosure meeting, the consultant mentioned several times that the late woman was a smoker and her family were also told ‘nuns don’t get cervical cancer’. This treatment from their doctors caused great distress to women already in the midst of traumatic cancer ordeals. One of the most stark comments in the report is the question, “Why does this always happen to women?” At present, there is no overarching women’s health strategy, with the current focus on women’s health centred on specific healthcare areas, primarily via the National Maternity Strategy. The only statutory body with a specific women’s health focus, the Department of Health’s Women’s Health Council, was dissolved in 2009, the women’s health policy unit in the department disappeared and the Women’s Health Advisory Committees, providing regional representation of women in the health service, no longer exist. Instead of progress, we have been going backwards through the last decade, and this CervicalCheck scandal is one inevitable outcome. The landslide referendum vote on the Eighth Amendment in May showcased how resoundingly Irish people support a more caring, compassionate Ireland where we can respond to a woman in a crisis situation and offer her the support she needs at home. This is the type of Ireland and the type of healthcare system we want for all women’s healthcare needs. We need to place a renewed emphasis on women’s health in Ireland. When you put women’s voices and experiences at the centre, you get better policy and outcomes. In 2016, the HSE published the National Men’s Health Action Plan. On foot of this scandal the time is long overdue for the same co-ordinated focus on women’s health. The Department of Health and the HSE, in partnership with NWCI, have committed to develop an action plan for women’s health. This needs to be developed urgently, with funding ringfenced in Budget 2019 and continued year-on-year funding. While today’s scandal relates to the health of women’s reproductive organs, women’s health is about all health issues that affect women. We need an action plan that covers all aspects of women’s health, from mental health to chronic disease to intimate partner violence. Dr Scally’s report is groundbreaking because it truly places the voices and experiences of women at the centre, and his 50 recommendations have so much credence because of this. While the women had their concerns routinely dismissed and overlooked by doctors, Dr Scally went to considerable lengths to listen. It is imperative this report leads to change in culture, practice and prioritisation. We must work to ensure it does not languish in an archive alongside others, but that the voices of the women quoted shape our health service going forward.

Irish people support a more caring Ireland, where we can respond to a woman in a crisis situation