LAB GIVEN CONTRACT AFTER ERRORS

A US lab returned incorrect smear test results to Irish women a year before the HSE awarded it a CervicalCheck contract. In 2007, staff at Cork University Hospital found at least two women were at risk of cervical cancer after reviewing tests which US based Quest Diagnostics said were negative or unclear.

The issue was raised with then Health Minister Mary Harney in the Dáil later that year. But the following year she oversaw the awarding of the HSE tender to Quest. She said Quest’s bid was a third of the cost of Irish labs. The HSE admitted the errors after a Freedom of Information request. It revealed that a number of cervical smear tests sent to the US for analysis had to be sent back for review after Cork University Hospital staff discovered at least two patients at risk of developing cervical cancer.