Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 10 May 2018
Public Accounts Committee
State Claims, Management of Legal Costs and Policy on Open Disclosure
Implications of CervicalCheck Revelations
2016 Financial Statements of the State Claims Agency
2016 Financial Statements of the HSE
9:00 am
David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source
Mr. O'Brien allowed him to answer this question at the health committee. Mr. Gleeson said, "I was involved with the then clinical director of the screening programme in compiling it,"; therefore, he was responsible. The circular gave three instructions. I want Mr. O'Brien to take this in for one moment, as I am sure he has already. The first instruction was that a copy of the audit be added to the patient's file; to use clinical judgement in deciding whether patients should be informed and that if the patient had died, a note was to be added to the file. That was a decision taken by the corporate body that is the HSE. Imagine, that if somebody had died, a note was simply to be added to the file. That is the systemic failure Mr. O'Brien is not prepared to accept. He is not prepared to accept that that instruction clearly given and the circular represented a systemic failure. How can it not be a systemic failure?
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