Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 18 December 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Independent Expert Panel Review into Cervical Screening: Discussion

Mr. Damien McCallion:

In terms of court settlements, they are obviously outside of our domain. As discussed earlier, we know there is a false negative rate in terms of cervical screening. The issue of negligence and so on is a matter for the courts. We do not get involved in that area. Earlier Dr. Doherty described well the focus there is now on the quality assurance around both laboratories, the Coombe and Quest. We visit both laboratories and we monitor both and we work closely, operationally, with them. There is increased operational management, as well as quality assurance in the laboratories to try to strengthen them going forward. This will continue through to the HPV primary screening.