Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This was not only an issue of delay but also of misdiagnosis. It was an issue of serious flaws at management level in Letterkenny University Hospital, at Saolta level, but also at governmental level. One of the recommendations of the review is that a maternity or obstetrics ward would be commissioned. That ward was built, not yesterday or the years before that but in 2000. A state-of-the-art theatre has lain idle for 20 years which has resulted in some of the issues I outlined.

We cannot brush over the fact of the matter, which is that the consultant and families such as those of Annie Farrell, who had to go public, went through all the right channels. They went to the hospital, to Saolta and to the Minister and met with deaf ear after deaf ear. They continued to fight and had to explain their story in the media and reach out to others to ensure that the review took place. We cannot get away from the issue, which is that women in Donegal lost their lives as a result of the practices in that hospital. That is at the core of this.

On the recommendation that an audit be carried out throughout the State on endometrial cancer, will the Minister ensure that that happens? Will he ask for a wider review about what is happening in Letterkenny because many of the patients are not happy with how Letterkenny University Hospital or Saolta are dealing with them, even at this point today?

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