Dr. Stephanie O'Keeffe:

Once I was aware in February that there were no systemic issues, that concern was gone. There were no further concerns after the February meeting with regard to the actual findings of the audit. There was a concern that the threat from Quest Diagnostics could pause us sending those letters, there was a concern that the dispute resolution process that it wanted to invoke could further delay the process of sending the letters to the consulting clinicians which would go on to patients. That was resolved within three months so that concern was over. The final thing from my perspective, which had been escalated to me for me to support in addressing, was to ensure that the historical letters that they had, of which the vast majority were sent over a two-month period in 2016, were actually sent. The programme assured me then, and the evidence demonstrates that the programme did this, that as new cases were coming in and as the audit findings were being produced, that it would continue to send letters on an ongoing basis, on a scale of about four to six per month. In October, it was clear to me - and I briefed those who I needed to brief accordingly - that this process was going quite well.

I was not asked about my feelings after that particular period, effectively 2016. What I said yesterday was that in 2017, it was not brought to my attention that there was a breakdown in that process with regard to consultants having a difficulty relaying that information to patients. That is a matter of fact. It was not brought to my attention.