Keith Swanick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to comment on the response to the tragic CervicalCheck controversy. As we all know, 209 cases of cancer were diagnosed where results should have been escalated. Sadly, 18 of those poor patients have passed on. I want to flag a patient, Jacinta Doyle, who is a Wexford lady and a mother of two. She had a smear in 2011 and no issues were raised with that smear, but in 2012 she was diagnosed with cancer when she went to her GP complaining of back pain. In fact, she had to pay for a private scan herself in order to obtain a diagnosis. My concern regarding to the whole controversy is the apparent fire-fighting approach adopted by the HSE and CervicalCheck. This lady spent 12 days trying to get answers on where she should go next. She rang the helpline on 28 April and 3 May. On 7 May, she contacted the helpline via Facebook. It was only on 10 May that she was informed that her original smear was tested in the US and that the lab is no longer used.

The constant drip feeding of information is not good enough. It is only in the past few days that GPs got clear notification on how to offer free smears to patients. Said notification indicates that if a patient has a medical card, the GP can fill out a special claim, through a special type consultation, STC, form, and put the card number on it. For private patients who do not have medical cards, GPs can put those people's PPS numbers on the special claim forms. I understand this may be a breach of data protection and the HSE has yet to clarify this. It is time that CervicalCheck redoubled its efforts to try to allay the fears of the women of Ireland.

I understand that the Scally inquiry is under way, but cold clinical words were used when discussing what CervicalCheck saw as a potential scandal and this was wrong. Confidence in the programme has been undermined. As a GP, it is my duty to encourage women to continue to attend for screening and to come to me and other GPs throughout the country with any concerns or symptoms they may have. It is important to recognise, despite the fiasco, that over the past ten years, 80% of eligible women have attended for their scheduled smears and this has led to a progressive reduction in the incidence of cervical cancer. These numbers speak for themselves and we should use our platform here in the Seanad to encourage women to continue with the screening process.