Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last Friday the HSE published Dr. Gabriel Scally's progress report on the implementation of recommendations made in the CervicalCheck scoping inquiry. It should be acknowledged that Dr. Scally has said he is encouraged by the progress made to date. However, there are a number of issues raised in his report that warrant our attention. He notes that a significant number of actions are due for completion in the second quarter of this year and that they need to be managed closely to ensure the timeframes set will not slip. I was very alarmed to learn that there were few, if any, departmental staff for whom the implementation of the recommendations was their dedicated task. Dr. Scally has warned that as the recommendations impact across divisions and units, careful monitoring will be needed. Surely, given the scale of the challenges and the nature of the crisis and for the 1.2 million women who rely on cervical screening programmes, the Minister for Health should appoint staff full time within his Department to ensure the inquiry's recommendations will be implemented. It should also be noted that the issue of open disclosure continues to present a problem. Dr. Scally's inquiry described the policy and practice on open disclosure as contradictory and wholly unsatisfactory. The Taoiseach might recall his commitment when Minister for Health over three years ago to enshrine open disclosure in legislation. The inquiry found that there was no compelling requirement for clinicians to disclose. Dr. Scally's latest report finds that the deeply flawed policy on open disclosure remains in place, which is not good enough. It is unacceptable that the paternalistic model of relationship between women and their clinicians continues in the health service and that there appears to be absolutely no sense of urgency on the part of the Government to fix it. When will the long-awaited patient safety Bill be introduced in order that women can be confident that all information will be disclosed to them?

See this speech in context