Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE EXPERT OVERSEEING the inquiry into the CervicalCheck controversy has expressed concern about the “fevered atmosphere” surrounding the issue.
Dr Gabriel Scally last night wrote to officials at the Department of Health stating his concern “that the current fevered atmosphere is posing some problems”, documents released this evening show.
“It is apparent to me that some key individuals and organisations are being distracted by the necessity of preparing to appear before committees and answer questions on very specific aspects of this substantial system failure that has led to such genuine concern and heartbreak.
“The correct way forward to analyse a system failure is by detailed and systematic analysis of that failure. To do that to any satisfactory extent I need to be able to be able to gain the full attention and cooperation of the key individuals and their organisations,” Scally wrote.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Simon Harris today received government approval for the drafting of a Bill to establish an independent board for the HSE. The previous board was abolished in 2011.
“The events of the past few weeks have once again made clear, there is an urgent need to restore public confidence in the HSE through a series of actions to strengthen the management, governance and accountability of the organisation. A key component of this is the establishment of a Board for the HSE.
The current HSE structure does not provide an adequate governance arrangement for the HSE, as I outlined to the Sláintecare committee, and as has been reflected in the report…
“I firmly believe that the appointment of a strong Board will help ensure robust governance of the HSE. We will work to have the Bill published as soon as possible. I look forward to working with members of the Oireachtas in bringing the Bill through the Houses this year,” Harris said.
Informing women
Last night the HSE confirmed that 18 women affected by the controversy have died. The previous figure was 17 women. The organisation said 203 of the 209 women (or their families) whose smear test results could have been incorrect have now been contacted.
The documents released today show that the Department of Health was aware of CervicalCheck’s stance of not informing some women of the outcomes of reviews into their cases.
A memo sent in October 2016 shows that Tony Holohan, the Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health, was told that legal proceedings had been taken by one of the women affected by the audit.
The documents show that clinicians were told to use their judgement in “selected cases where it is clear that discussion of the outcomes of the review could do more harm than good”.
Memos released to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last week showed that HSE management was warned in 2016 that there could be negative media coverage an audit into CervicalCheck, the national cervical cancer screening programme.
A briefing note from July 2016 said “all international screening programmes will have encountered a media headline that ‘screening did not diagnose my cancer’”. It said that the CervicalCheck programme was prepared for such media coverage.
The CervicalCheck scandal came into the public eye last month when Vicky Phelan, whose cervical cancer is now terminal, settled a High Court action against the HSE and Clinical Pathology Laboratories (CPL) for €2.5 million over incorrect smear test results from 2011.
Harris has launched an inquiry into the controversy, and the HSE’s Director General Tony O’Brien stepped down last week.
Public Accounts Committee
At a special meeting in Leinster House at 5pm tomorrow, the PAC will hear evidence from Vicky Phelan and Stephen Teap, whose wife was one of the 18 women who have died.
Sean Fleming, chair of the PAC, said it is important that the committees hears directly from victims.
The understandable anxiety that the issues first exposed last month by Vicky Phelan has now turned to public anger and that is why we need answers and accountability now as we cannot wait for a commission of inquiry that may take a considerable time to conclude its work: All our work will be available to Dr Scally and to the inquiry.
“We need answers as to the state of knowledge of this issue at the senior levels in the Department and the HSE. The public officials will also get an opportunity to highlight the need for the continuation of the screening programme.
“They will also get an opportunity to report progress on the changes that have been implemented to inform all those women and the families of those women who have died about the outcome of the cervical screening audit,” Fleming said.
More than 16,500 calls have been answered by the HSE’s CervicalCheck freephone helpline since 28 April.
If you’re concerned about the results of your smear test, you can contact the helpline as follows:
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
On a recent trip there I couldn’t get over the amount of people practically standing on the edge taking selfies. The palms of my hands get sweaty just thinking about it. RIP to the poor lad.
@Nigel Ganley: i saw something similar in Dun Aonghasa some years back. People running to the edge to throw stones out over the cliff face into the sea. All you need to do is trip and it’s game over!
@Sean: There is the old saying, “you can’t put an old head on young shoulders” . And you never will, regardless of human progress, there will always be that reset factor each generation.
@Sean: That’s insane, it was a fort for a reason.
@Nigel Ganley: what’s the problem with me commenting, am I banned for some reason?
RIP
The poor guy, that’s just awful.
RIP.
@Dave Moran: gg
Happens too much, cost of a barrier has to be justified by now. One loss is too many. RIP
@Pip: yes ruining the landscape cause people can’t follow signs is the key
What’s to stop people climbing over a barrier to get their precious selfie.
@Pip: there is a barrier there. Selfie takers often hop over barriers to take their photos. I can’t say that is what happened in this case.
@O Swetenham: gravity
@Pip: yes there is a barrier already there, but people don’t heed the barriers and were walking and taking pics near to the edge.
@Anne: the barriers don’t run all the way. Plenty of spots where you can walk to the edge
@John Doe: Aye, the edge. A cliff edge. Perhaps we should employ advisers, advising in various languages, in high-vis jackets that the consequences of falling over the edge of the cliff are not usually healthy.
@John Doe: so putting a barrier around the entire coastline is the only answer
@Pip: don’t press the red button
@Pip: build a wall sure
@Fergus Sheahan: no I think putting something nice and soft to land on would be better ?
@Fergus Sheahan:
A barrier for prevention of accidental death or future copy for glib, smart-ass comments….?
@Fergus Sheahan: While I totally agree with what you said, I’m curious if there’s any chance of the cliffs collapsing with people walking on the edge.
@John Doe: cape St.Vincent in Portugal ,in Roman times it was the edge of the world then, has no barriers, and people don’t fall off in droves, people climb over barriers anyway it would be a waste of money. Standing close to sea cliffs is dangerous and people know that
@StevieB: your a dumb ass
With respect to the deceased I’m surprised this made the news because it happens a lot at the Cliffs of Moher that we don’t hear about.
66 deaths listed in this report for instance:
@bopter: Jesus….that’s a death every 4.5 months.
@Michael Carolan: unfortunately that article appears to conclude that many of them were intentional as opposed to accidental, although the percentages in the abstract don’t appear to makes sense, unfortunately the suicides don’t appear to be reported in the media
@Vocal Outrage: unfortunate? Do you wish to promote ways of suicide to vulnerable people? Best to speak about these issues but no need for specific detail in the media.
@dstaffx: cop on, of course I’m not trying to promote suicide you tool. My issue is that we don’t speak about suicide at all, hence we don’t even have a solid grasp on the extent of the problem as many suicides are not reported nor recorded as such
@Vocal Outrage: you tool? How mature.
@dstaffx: neither is it mature to accuse someone of promoting suicide
@dstaffx: you are a tool.
@bopter: Because he was a guest in our country?
Practically gale force winds there on Monday and saw people sitting right on the ledge with their legs dangling, others standing right at the edge. All for social media.
Selfies and gravity, bad combo
Visited there a few years ago on a fairly wet and windy day – good crowd despite the weather and I enjoyed the cliff top walk behind the wall but was horrified to see several people hop out onto the slippy cliff top grass to look over the edge and take photos.
Done the centre exhibition and got a bun and coffee – sat down at a table with a view out but had to move because I could see more folk right along the south stretch doing the same and didn’t want the sight of somebody tumbling over to be my enduring memory of the day.
RIP to the poor lad and sympathy for his friends and family – thoughts with anyone who seen his fall as well.
very sad to hear R.I.P
What’s the point in a fence or a barrier ? If the sight of the ocean hundreds of feet below you when standing a safe distance from the edge doesn’t convince you it’s a bad idea to go any closer nothing will.
What is it with these young people and their stupid selfies seriously can’t understand it at all. RIP
So sad for such a beautiful place R.I.P
*tragedy
@thomas patrick: an awful lot of d1ckheads making jokes on this story. Thankfully some removed already. Unfortunately some disrespectful ones remain!
Terrible tradegy ..
Tragic. I can understand the appeal, I think most of us have looked over that cliff without fear.
The poor lad. Having come all this way. My heart goes out to his family.
Rip young man. Too many tourists taking risks for a good photo.
Terribly sad . The lengths people will go for a selfie or photo.
Was there this summer. The barrier doesn’t extend far enough along the cliffs to offer protection to the large number of people visiting. Nor is there security personnel to warn or restrain people. Visiting Giant’s Causeway during the same holiday there are staff to stop people from getting too close to the sea where there’s a danger of being washed out to sea in rough weather. At the cliffs I saw lots of people from outside Ireland who, with the draw of crowds, were underestimating the danger of standing too close to the edge of the un-protected cliff edge.
Terrible tragedy RIP
I’m surprised there aren’t more tragedies like this. I’ve visited the Cliffs numerous times and have witnessed people climbing over barriers and walls every time I’ve visited. A woman in her 40′s once asked me if I’d take her photo and after she handed me the camera she proceeded to climb down from the trail and onto a very narrow ledge which had barely enough room for her to stand upon and had nothing but the rocks and sea beneath it. I quickly took the shot and after she’d climbed back safety I asked her if she realized how unstable and fragile the cliffs are and that I hoped she’d not take any more chances like that. Once I saw two girls trying to do handstands for photo purposes with only a couple of feet between them and the cliff edge. I posted something to a tourism fb page few years ago following a visit to the Cliffs and after witnessing so many tourists putting themselves in harm’s way. Some people actually replied and said that ‘at least these people were having fun and doing exciting things and if they died, they’d die doing something they loved instead of sitting home in an armchair. Pardon me, but one can have fun and excitement without intentionally risking your life by ignoring signage and barriers for a photograph or selfie.
Build a wall to make it safer like trump said :)
Selfiecidal
@StevieB: as good as.ylur comment any day. A new word for a now common way to die
Seen an idiot of a father sitting on the edge, shouting at his son to come out, son crawled out on his stomach petrified. Some idiots out there.
have your say