Results 43,761-43,780 of 49,836 for speaker:Stephen Donnelly
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: There is no guarantee, based on all of these issues, that the test will be live this year.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: I appreciate that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: This might be a question for Mr. Breslin. Given the complexity - I absolutely accept the delegates' bona fides in saying they are trying to get this across the line as quickly as possible - the Minister set expectations in May or June last year, or whenever it was, when he said in the Chamber that he was aiming to have the HPV test go live in September 2018. We are hearing there is no...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: I accept all of that, but the question I am asking is at a political level. The Minister did not make a commitment, but he did raise the issue. He said he would try to bring forward the test in September. This set expectations among women all over the country. I cannot remember the date, but I imagine that the announcement was made around June last year. Did the Minister seek advice on...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: I appreciate that. I am just looking for a specific answer as the Minister made a public and very relevant announcement. Did he seek advice before making it?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: Was the advice that it might be possible to go live in September?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: At the time of the announcement was the advice that it would be possible to go live in September?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: Was the Minister given advice either way on whether it would be feasible?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: I am just asking what it was. Was it, "Minister, it is unlikely that you will be able to go live in September", or-----
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: I move to the backlog of 78,000. Obviously, it is a source of serious concern for women around Ireland who are facing the delays. In his report Dr. Scally said that for every 1,000 tests, 15 women would be identified as having precancerous abnormalities. A backlog of 78,000 suggests approximately 1,200 women within that cohort will be or have been identified as having precancerous...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: Yes. I will finish on that question.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: Can I ask a further follow-up question on that topic?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: I thank the witnesses for those responses. The concern people have raised with me is exactly what Dr. McKenna has identified, namely, that if they are beyond the point of the very first testing where there is a lead-in time, a delay of six months should not make that much difference because it might be ten years before it develops and there is plenty of time for intervention and treatment....
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: I thank Dr. McKenna for that..
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: I will go back to where the choke points in the process are and what we can do about them. As I understand it, and this is not a perfect understanding, there are essentially four steps. There is the capacity of general practitioners to meet women for a consultation and do the smear tests. There is then cytology, which involves looking at the cells on a screen and carrying out a HPV test...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: Thank God.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: If a company in Dublin, Cork, Kerry, London or Edinburgh that does 1 million tests a year were to indicate it could handily take on another 10,000 tests each week for Ireland, would that essentially fix the problem?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: I thank Dr. McKenna for that. Let us say we could get these 80,000 tests done very quickly, which obviously we all want to happen. I have spoken to colposcopists and histopathologists around the country and they are saying, particularly the colposcopists, that they have enormous waiting lists. Dr. McKenna made the point that there are tens of thousands of women awaiting gynaecology...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: Are they from the laboratories?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health: CervicalCheck Screening Programme Update: Discussion (13 Feb 2019)
Stephen Donnelly: Are they from GPs?