Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The management of medical negligence is part of this discussion. It is very welcome that learnings have been identified. There would be something wrong if they had not. As I stated at the committee last week and on a couple of occasions in the Dáil, some things have not been learned.That women are still seeking copies of their CervicalCheck slides indicates that the system is still very legalistic and that the affected person seems secondary, at least in regard to getting medical information.

There was a recent article in The Sunday Timeson genetic testing in Crumlin hospital. The Minister for Health or his Department has initiated a review of 335 positive BRCA genetic tests. Some 3,500 negative tests remain to be reviewed. This goes back to the issue of problems being foreseen or earlier identified. The 2014 Donnai and Newman report initiated by the HSE showed serious dysfunctionality in this area. However, a review is now being initiated based on claims published in a Sunday newspaper. This appears to be a very serious issue which may be on a par with Cervical Check and the blood contamination scandal. It strikes me that the early identification of issues, as referenced by Mr. Breslin, is not happening. If serious dysfunctionality was identified in 2014, but now in 2018 no root and branch review on how to deal with that has been carried out, a lot remains to be learned. Some recommendations of the report were never implemented, for example. It falls into the same category as many major issues.