Dr. Stephanie O'Keeffe:

The CervicalCheck programme. In retrospect, it is legitimate to ask whether the open disclosure policy that it had developed was fit for purpose. The Irish Medical Council's 2016 guide to professional conduct and ethics states that patient information remains confidential. Even where an individual consents to his or her information being released, the Irish Medical Council's ethical guidelines state that how the disclosure might benefit or cause distress to the deceased's family needs to be considered. Releasing patient information about someone who is deceased might be limited by law.

When I examined the policy, I understood at the time that there were significant considerations that clinicians had to make, but we need to have a conversation about mandatory disclosure.