Results 9,841-9,860 of 24,635 for speaker:Mary Harney

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: I do not interfere in operational issues which are the responsibility of other people.

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: I am not washing my hands of it: I am defending what they have done because I have total confidence in them, unlike Deputy Reilly. Deputy Reilly is scaring 2,000 women whose lives hang in the balance, which is highly irresponsible.

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: That has not been verified by anybody.

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: Yes, I do.

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: I have a lot to do with it, Deputy. My obligation is to ensure there is in place a screening programme and to get Government backing for it. This means I must obtain resources to allow the screening service to recruit staff, roll out the programme and to pay for cytology services and smear testing. It is also my responsibility to ensure the service being rolled out is quality assured and...

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: I could not interfere when the preferred bidder won the contract on the basis of quality and turnaround time. As regards turnaround times, the laboratory must turnaround a result within ten days of receipt of a smear. This is necessary to facilitate the woman receiving a result within four weeks. This is as recommended in the standards and is not inconsistent with Dr. McGoogan's report...

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: There is plenty of work in the laboratories at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin and everywhere else.

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: There is plenty of work in the laboratories.

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: That is what the Royal College of Physicians in Ireland had to say. They are the experts in pathology. I have listened to them and to the independent experts made available to the cancer screening service. It has no vested interest except to put in place the best service for the women of Ireland.

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: Of course we want to have quality-assured laboratory facilities in Ireland. Among the recommendations in the McGoogan report, which has been quoted here this morning, is the need to rationalise our laboratory services. When I was in British Columbia two years ago as part of the advanced preparation of the cancer control programme, I noted that a laboratory there dealt with 600,000 smear...

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: The Irish Medical Journal has not published articles about comparing this data and Deputy Reilly knows that. In relation to St. Luke's——

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: Comparing us with the US? The same study? The Deputy is not comparing like with like. He is talking about apples and oranges.

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: Deputy Reilly is talking about different things. It is like last week when Deputy Reilly——

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: It is like the data last week, which Deputy Reilly got wrong.

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: Some 39 women underwent breast surgery in Mayo. There were over 80 patients dealt with, some of whom had fine-needle aspirations. They did not have surgery.

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: Let us compare like with like.

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: The Deputy can deal with Professor Wylie himself. I am simply saying that if we are to talk about data and facts, let us talk about appropriate comparisons.

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: Regarding St. Luke's own data, the predictive value of high-grade lesions varies from 72% to 75%. That means that one in four women get a false positive result. That is a fact.

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: The data that Deputy Reilly referred to from St. Luke's was published prior to 2002. That is why I said, in response to Deputy Ó Snodaigh, that one cannot compare the smear tests outsourced by the HSE, of which there were 40,000 last year, with the urgent cases dealt with in Ireland because the urgent cases clearly will have a higher rate of abnormality than the group that was outsourced....

Cancer Screening Programme: Statements (29 May 2008)

Mary Harney: The data in the medical journal to which Deputy Reilly refers was published prior to 2002. The company in question acquired a lot of laboratory facilities. It has been growing by acquisition, which is why it is the biggest in the field. The payments issues with the authorities in the United States centre on the laboratories that have been acquired. The company is accredited by the...