HSE helpline delays as thousands make calls

THOUSANDS of women have contacted the HSE’s CervicalCheck helpline in the wake of the smear test scandal, but many are struggling to get through to someone who can provide answers.

As many as 6,000 people worried about smear test results have called the CervicalCheck helpline since it opened on Friday.

The helpline was besieged with 2,000 calls from women yesterday morning alone but many have been unable to speak to someone who can help them.

Mandy Donnelly, from Dublin, who underwent treatment in 2012 to remove pre-cancerous cells, said she has been waiting days for someone from the helpline to return her call.

The mother-of-two yesterday told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘I rang the CervicalCheck alleged helpline on Friday mid-afternoon and days later nobody has rang me back. They took my PPS number and details, but four days later no one has called me back – it is just not good enough.’

Callers to RTÉ’s Liveline also said yesterday that they are struggling to get through amid fears their smears were misread.

One woman told Joe Duffy she had been waiting hours for someone from the CervicalCheck helpline to ring her back, while another said she was put on hold for 15 minutes twice but had failed to get through to anyone.

Fiona Lawlor said the CervicalCheck line is ‘an answering service, not a helpline’.

A HSE spokeswoman apologised yesterday for the delays, blaming the ‘large volume of calls’.