Steering group is now meeting less frequently

A WOMAN at the centre of the CervicalCheck scandal has voiced concern that the screening service’s steering committee will now meet only monthly.

Lorraine Walsh, one of the 221 women who received false smear test results prior to cancer diagnoses, was appointed as a patient representative to the CervicalCheck Steering Committee which was set up by the Department of Health ‘to provide oversight and assurance on the implementation of key decisions taken by Government in relation to CervicalCheck’.

It was agreed initially that the meetings would only be scheduled monthly once the Scally Report implementation plan was agree and in place. However, Ms Walsh said that report ‘is not near’ implementation.

Initially, from June 21 to July 26, the committee met weekly, but from late July until September 20, meetings were held every fortnight.

Now it is understood that there will not be another meeting for five weeks, and from that date, the group is to meet every four weeks.

Ms Walsh believes this revised schedule suggests that CervicalCheck has slipped down the Department of Health’s priorities. She told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘They don’t think it’s important to keep meeting every two weeks. I am disappointed. I’ve been on to the Minister about it.’