SMEARS CZAR ON HOLIDAYS

TDs furious as head of cervical cancer hit squad takes vacation and avoids questioning at PAC

THE HSE official in charge of the Health Minister’s Cervical Check crisis management team went on holiday this week, rather than go before the Public Accounts Committee.

A new memo revealed to the PAC this week shows that Patrick Lynch, the HSE National Director Quality Assurance and Verification, was made aware of the controversial audit in February 2016.

He headed the Serious Incident Management Team set up by Minister Simon Harris to take control of Cervical Check and ensure that all 209 affected women were notified of their status.

The Irish Mail on Sunday can also reveal Mr Lynch was separately informed of the concerns of Vicky Phelan’s consultant about the communication process in

July last year, by Collette Cowan, CEO of the University of Limerick Hospital Group. At this stage, Mrs Phelan had yet to be informed of her false all-clear.

The MoS has previously revealed that Colm Henry, the official to whom the Serious Incident Management Team (SIMT) was reporting, was also aware of the correspondence going between doctors.

Mr Henry is the HSE’s National Clinical Adviser and Group Lead, Acute Hospital Division.

The February memo, with substantially more detail about the scale of the audit, is an earlier version of the three drafts of the controversial memo given to the Department of Health in March and July 2016.

All four memos say there is an audit of the cervical cancer screening programme and forewarn of possible public relations problems.

However, the February memo goes into detail about the audit process methodology.

It says 317 cases have been flagged for further review. These figures are broken down to say 251 cases would have their cytology reviewed, and 72 would have their colposcopy reviewed, but some may have been for both, as a case may be reviewed for more than one.

These figures were not in later versions of the memo, and are the first indication on record of the potential scale of the emerging issue.

The memo is part of a cache of previously undisclosed HSE documents. The release of the less detailed March and July memos led to sharp criticism of then-HSE chief Tony O’Brien, and his resignation the day after they came to light.

Last weekend, the MoS asked about Mr Lynch’s foreknowledge of the controversial audit and about his looming appearance at the PAC. The questions were not answered and his decision to go on holidays was not disclosed.

The PAC was told the day before Mr Lynch was due to appear with other health chiefs that he would not be there because he was on holiday. A HSE spokesman said there was a discussion with Mr Lynch over whether he would postpone his holidays but ultimately he went.

The spokesman said Mr Lynch had been replaced in his role as head of the SIMT last Friday. But when the MoS put specific questions about his position last Saturday, a HSE spokeswoman made no reference to any change.

TDs have described Mr Lynch’s decision to take a sun holiday on a day that they wanted crucial answers as ‘unacceptable’.

The HSE said he had booked his holidays in January, but conceded there was an internal ‘discussion’ about whether he should go once he had been called to the committee.

PAC vice chairman, Labour’s Alan Kelly, was deeply unhappy at Mr Lynch’s failure to appear.

John Connaghan, the new acting director general of the HSE, sought information about the holiday during a break from the committee on Thursday and he saw that outgoing HSE chief Tony O’Brien had signed his ‘leave card’. Mr Connaghan said: ‘There is no date appended to the signature, however, I have further checked with Mr Lynch about when he actually booked his flights. He booked his flights on 17 January, so I’m estimating his leave arrangements was made on a date prior to that date. It was signed off.

‘I went back to [phoned] Mr Lynch on holiday and found out when he actually booked his flights, he booked his flights on the 17 January.’ Deputy Kelly expressed his displeasure. He said: ‘Everyone is entitled to their leave but I’m not going to take leave during a general election because I have to fight it. These are critical people at the highest level underneath you in the HSE and they’re away during the biggest national health crisis in years. That’s not acceptable.’

A HSE spokesman was asked whether there was a discussion among senior executives about whether Mr Lynch should take his holiday once he was called to face the PAC. He said: ‘Yes, it was discussed, but we had 10 people in there [at the PAC] as was. So any of the questions that needed to be answered could have been covered off by other people. Obviously, it was given consideration. We don’t take our responsibilities to our fine elected representatives lightly.’

The spokesman spoke of the difficulties of taking leave in this climate. He said: ‘In fairness to him, it is difficult to get leave in this environment, and this thing is going to run on for quite a while. He could cancel it this time and he could end up cancelling it the next time and the time after that. Don’t forget we have a commission of inquiry coming down the track on this as well.

‘So while it is not ideal we had 10 in there yesterday who would have blocked off most of what needed to be discussed. And if they need anything after that I have no doubt that we will be in there again.’

Asked about the appropriateness of Mr Lynch heading the SIMT, the spokesman argued that there is an incorrect perception about what the SIMT team is doing.

‘SIMT has many roles, depending on the situation, SIMT can go in and do an investigation, it can do a review and come up with findings, it can suggest recommendations.

‘In this case that’s not SIMT’s role. They were sent in as a sort of “solve the problem, find out how many women weren’t contacted, and get them contacted ASAP.”’

‘We don’t take duty to fine representatives lightly’