Dr. Colm Henry:

I cannot remember Dr. Scally's exact words but he characterised this audit as flawed in terms of its design and implementation. It is easy to forget that there was not only a failure to disclose information, which the Deputy pointed out, but that the design and implementation of the audit were also found to be faulty. It was also incomplete in that it did not include patients who were characterised as having cancer on the National Cancer Registry Ireland, NCRI. There has been much discussion about quality assurance this morning and in other fora. Auditing interval cancers is but one component of quality assurance. Quality assurance in any programme looks at its whole scope, range and pathway of care, from the credentials of the laboratories to smear-taking to communication with women. It looks at the whole range. One other component involves looking at interval cancers in order to learn from what is found. With regard to this programme and other screening programmes, there is very little information internationally as to how open disclosure of interval cancers should be dealt with. After the Scally report came out, we undertook to examine all three cancer programmes and design a way to look at interval cancers in those screening programmes, bearing in mind that we all want screening to flourish and thrive and for women to have confidence and partake in the programmes. We sought the best international advice and the best expert advice available here in Ireland as to how we should deal with interval cancers, whether in respect of breast, bowel or cervical cancer. That working is ongoing. It is led by Professor Susan O'Reilly who previously headed the national cancer control programme, NCCP. We hope to see the outcome of that work in the summer.