Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

I have done so already. My office brought the matter to my attention and the Department is aware of the Deputy's correspondence. All patient safety issues are now referred to the chief medical officer in the Department. A new medical officer who will be appointed some time in October — a recruitment campaign is under way — will head up a new patient safety division in the Department for the first time. Obviously, we must get the facts before we can respond. However, the Department sent the Deputy an acknowledgement.

Earlier this month, when we were rolling out the new cervical screening programme, our main priority when sourcing cytology was to ensure it was quality assured. Without quality assured cytology services, a screening programme is not of great value. Considerable controversy arose about this issue.

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