Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 23 May 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Cancer Screening Programmes: Discussion

9:00 am

Mr. Gerard O'Mahony:

I believe we are getting a bit confused here. The 90% and 95% areas are observer error. In other words, out of 20 abnormalities at high grade there may be 5% missed. That is the entitlement of the medical scientist. We are looking for that 90% to 95% on target. Over all abnormalities, including low grade and high grade, one is looking for a return of 90%. If we do not achieve that then it is a case of retraining or looking again at the positives, or there is another form to get back to that level. That is the level at which we work. It is a very high level of detail and is very tiring, but it is the level at which the scientist works and the level he or she is permitted an error of maybe one in 20. If the scientist makes two errors in 20 then he or she comes off the bench. It is very simple.

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