Review of 3,000 smear tests has not even started
AN INDEPENDENT physical review of around 3,000 smear tests is yet to begin, despite the fact that it was expected to be completed by the end of May.
It has also been confirmed that the number of women who had their smear tests misread and later went on to develop cancer has increased from 209 to 221.
Representatives from the HSE and CervicalCheck were before the Public Accounts Committee yesterday to answer questions on the cancer scandal.
The committee heard that the physical review into the smear slides had been suspended until the separate Scally review into the CervicalCheck programme is completed in late August.
Dr Tracey Conroy, assistant secretary for the Acute Hospitals Division in the Department of Health, said that the HSE had been ‘quite clear’ ‘from the outset’ that the review would not be completed ahead of the Scally review.
Dr Conroy added that there had been ‘ongoing daily engagement’ with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, who are carrying out the review, with expertise also sourced from experts in the UK.
In light of the delay, one of the women at the centre of the scandal, Vicky Phelan hit out at the HSE and said that it was ‘scandalous at this stage that we are still no nearer the truth, however many months down the line’.
‘The bottom line really here is that the system has failed,’ Ms Phelan told RTÉ’s Today programme.
At yesterday’s committee, Labour TD Alan Kelly told the HSE director general, John Connaghan, that he wanted a guarantee that Dr Scally would be provided with all the information needed to complete his review.
Mr Connaghan reassured him that all relevant information within its remit would be handed over to Mr Scally, and that there was no intention to hold anything back.
Speaking on RTÉ radio, Ms Phelan’s solicitor, Cian O’Carroll, claimed that some of his clients were still facing delays in accessing their slides, and called on Health Minister Simon Harris to ensure that all of the slides were released this week.
Yesterday’s update also revealed that the number of active legal cases being taken against the HSE over the misreading of scans now stands at 35. A further three have been settled, and there are also two more potential cases.
The CervicalCheck helpline, which was set up when the scandal first came to light in April, has so far received 14,500 phone calls.
The committee also heard that the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists was examining how they would proceed with looking into patient files and case histories.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: ‘I’m very dissatisfied that the actual review of the slides hasn’t started yet. Work has begun though, the terms of reference have been agreed, and the preliminary work has been done. But certainly we had thought back in May that this was a job that could be done more quickly.’
When asked if the Scally report could have credibility, Mr Varadkar said: ‘Well, the Scally report has a number of different terms of reference and he’ll still be able to report on those pending the result of this work that’s being done by the Royal College and what he’s going to do is he’s going to report in modules point by point.’
‘Bottom line is the system has failed’