Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Everybody who yesterday evening listened to and watched Ms Vicky Phelan telling the story of how her cervical smear test was processed and then misdiagnosed, and then nobody actually had the courage to tell her about that for up to three years, would have been struck by the amazing courage and bravery of Vicky and her family. Vicky is a young woman, only 43, a wife and a mother of two children, aged 12 and 7. She was given the all-clear health wise following a cervical screening in 2011. However, in an internal audit carried out by CervicalCheck in 2014, Vicky's 2011 smear test was found to have had abnormalities. No-one informed Vicky, her family or her doctor about that audit or that result for another three years. I know the Tánaiste would agree that it is beyond words that Vicky had to face the prospect of terminal cancer, or the fact that information was knowingly withheld from her and her doctors which makes it completely inexplicable and frankly absolutely unacceptable.

However, the 2014 audit has also found incorrect results in up to 14 other women's tests. Yet it was only in 2016 that medical consultants were advised to deal with these women and tell them their results. Court documents suggest that CervicalCheck issued a circular in 2016 saying that the service would like the women's notes to be reviewed, and for the result to be "recorded". The circular also said "as a general rule of thumb the outcome should be communicated to the woman with a focus on the context of confronting the overall clinical scenario."

CervicalCheck then explained that the women may not have been aware of the actual audit. The approach has been cruel and bizarre in the extreme. It was also reported that doctors were asked to use their own judgment on whether to inform women about these misdiagnoses. This is absolutely unbelievable, particularly when Vicky and the 14 others were given the all-clear result years before.

How is this acceptable, medically, ethically or legally? Was the HSE aware in 2014 that the audit had taken place and was it made aware of the results in 2014? This programme is hugely important to our country, but given that it is paid for by the State, the company that undertakes and rolls out this programme must have obligations to the HSE concerning the way it informs people. Is a protocol in place between the HSE and CervicalCheck about audits and the sharing of information? If not, why not? How many audits have taken place since 2014 and how many other women are in the position faced by Vicky today? Finally, can the Tánaiste outline what will change as a result of what we know now, as a consequence of the bravery and the courage of Vicky Phelan?

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