Social Democrats co-leader Róisín Shortall TD today called on the Minister for Health to intervene to make sure that all 206 women whose smear tests have shown they have cervical cancer are notified immediately.
Deputy Shortall said:
“It beggars belief that no lessons appear to have been learned out of the tragedy of Vicky Phelan’s experience. Today the head of the CervicalCheck service was not able to say for certain that all of the 206 women who missed early treatment for cervical cancer have been notified of their test results.
“The Minister for Health needs to step in and ensure that every last one of these 206 patients are identified and informed of their smear test results. Any of them who have not yet been informed must be contacted today. Whatever services and supports are needed must also be put in place so that there’s no further delay and worry for these women.
“There are massive concerns about reliability of our cervical cancer testing system. Many women in the country will be anxious and fearful that they may be among those patients who have cervical cancer but have been left in the dark about their smear results.”
ENDS
27 April 2018