CervicalCheck Scandal: Newbridge Councillor furious at insensitive leaking of Scally Report - and failure to recommend a commission of investigation.
Whilst many cancer support organisations welcomed the findings of the recently published Scally Report, Newbridge based Cllr Fiona McLoughlin Healy slated the leaking of parts of the report before women whose screenings had previously been misdiagnosed, were informed.
In an open letter to Minister for Health, Simon Harris, TD, the Newbridge MD Councillor wrote:
“Women’s lives matter: I’m so disappointed for Vicky Phelan, Emma Mhic Mhathúna and all the brave women who prevented the cervical check scandal from being covered up and hidden from our mothers, wives, sisters, daughters and their husbands, children and parents throughout this country.
“They helped us, each and every one of us to be more informed and vigilant about our own (if you’re a woman) and other members of our families’ health”.
Furthermore, Cllr McLoughlin Healy she was both “disappointed and angry at the leak of parts of the #ScallyReport” before women affected by the scandal had been informed of its findings.
However, the Marie Keating Foundation welcomed Dr Gabriel Scally’s”thorough and comprehensive review into the CervicalCheck debacle”.
Liz Yeates, CEO of the Marie Keating Foundation stated: “In particular, Dr Scally’s focus on 50 key recommendations to be implemented, which will lead to an improved screening service and drastic reductions in cervical cancer cases as well as a better health system for women in Ireland.”
She continued: “Dr Scally’s detailed review into the full range of issues that have impinged on the screening programme over the past 5 months has placed him in an excellent position to review the system as a whole and to identify the important changes that are needed in order to rehaul and renew CervicalCheck as well as our other screening services”.
Cllr Fiona McLoughlin Healy, Newbridge MD
“I am angrier yet at the predictability of the recommendation that a commission of investigation is not required in order to identify how the state systems, policies and procedures led to the preventable deaths of women. Let me just say that again. The state-commissioned investigator recommends that no commission of investigation is required into failings of the state-provided health checks, which led to the preventable deaths of women” wrote Cllr McLoughlin Healy.
Miss Yeates with contrary opinion added: “What was so heartening to us, is Dr Scally’s deep and sincere commitment to the women and families affected by this controversy and his passion to see this work make real changes in the system. The revelations in his report of the way women were told of their diagnosis and the results of the audit review, are both disturbing and shocking, highlighting that the current policy and practice in relation to open disclosure is deeply contradictory and unsatisfactory. ”
She continued: “There was a general sense from Dr Scally’s meetings with the women and families that they felt badly let down by the State. One of Dr Scally’s recommendation that is to be welcomed is that two patient representatives are to be included on the new HSE Board. It is only when patients have a direct say in how the health system works that we will see real changes in the culture of a health system which has been shown to be deeply flawed.”
Cllr McLoughlin Healy said she hoped Kildare women and their families would join her in sending a clear message to the Minister, Simon Harris that he must initiate a commission of enquiry.
“Women’s lives matter. We cannot prevent fatal mistakes, the deaths of our mothers, sisters, daughters from happening in the future if we do not know and understand how it happened in the past”.
The Marie Keating Foundation together with the Irish Cancer Society and the Irish Patient Association is now working to put structured supports in place to help in a very tangible and practical manner, the 221 women and their families in facing the difficulties arising from these complex and distressing events.
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