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 CLINICAL DIRECTOR of CervicalCheck has urged women to trust the screening service after acknowledging that faith in the programme “has been eroded”.
Dr Noirin Russell called for any woman who had received a letter of appointment or who was showing symptoms such as vaginal bleeding not to be hesitant about attending the service.
Issues with the screening programme emerged after a High Court case taken by Vicky Phelan in 2018.
The service failed to tell women who had been diagnosed with cancer that their original smear tests had been reviewed after their diagnosis.
In some cases the reviews found false negatives in tests and women in these cases may have benefited from an earlier diagnosis and earlier care.
Russell told RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne programme that the service had endured a “really tough couple of years” as a result of the controversy.
“It’s been tough because I think women’s trust in the programme has been eroded,” she said.
She also suggested that those in charge of the programme in recent years emphasised the benefits of screening services too much without admitting how such services could not prevent all cancers.
Russell also said that supporting cancer screening programmes as a society meant accepting that they could not catch all forms of cancer.
“HPV screening will prevent 90% of cancers,” she said.
“But we have to acknowledge that it will not prevent 10%. And we as a society have got to decide how do we take that information and how do we care for those 10% of women who feel very, very hard done by.”
Her remarks follow concerns expressed by Russell to Aontú TD Peadar Toibín that questions raised about the CervicalCheck controversy could undermine the service.
In a letter to the TD last month, Russell said it was important “not to assume that a mistake has been made” but to recognise the inability of cancer screening services to detect all cancers.
“I worry that comments such as those you have made makes women feel they have been wronged by the system, whereas in fact they have been unfortunate in not being one of those to have cancer detected early,” she wrote.
“It is a huge psychological blow to receive a diagnosis of cancer and to think that you might have been wronged makes it worse.
“This is the best that any cancer screening programme in the world will ever be, and therefore perpetuating the idea that these are ‘mistakes’ is harmful to women and their confidence in the programme.”
The letter was criticised by Vicky Phelan the 221+ patient support group, which expressed “deep concerns” at her remarks.
The group said it would write to the Independent Chair of CervicalCheck Steering Committee over concerns that the comments betrayed the commitment of government to cultural change in as part of the programme.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
It’s probably a bit difficult to trust the service when you see the position of power Tony Holohan still holds in the HSE today and how he exercises it despite his unsavoury history in this area…
@The Alchemist’s Head: is he not canonized yet??
@The Alchemist’s Head: holohan should have been sacked
New director of Cervicalcheck Dr Noirín Russsell makes incredibly imp points in her published letter re Irelands Screening ideology; her points on the risks of intercurrent ‘Interval Cancers’ &the implications to the state re the viability of screen programmes is very timely esp. given the States failure to implement Lung Cancer screening for this very reason; the single most effective strategy for reducing Lung cancer deaths in ex-smokers in Ireland&yet the State is failing to implement CT screening due to the risks of interval cancers& the States Claims agency fear around the cost implications of same – the purpose of screening needs to be for the greater good to society& to save the most lives by early detection not fear of closing down screen programmes due to the issues she highlights
How could you trust them
New director of Cervicalcheck Dr Noirín Russsell makes incredibly imp points in her published letter re Irelands Screening ideology; her points on the risks of intercurrent ‘Interval Cancers’&the implications to the state re the viability of screen programmes is very timely esp. given the States failure to implement Lung Cancer screening for this very reason; the single most effective strategy for reducing Lung cancer deaths in ex-smokers in Ireland&yet the State is failing to implement CT screening due to the risks of interval cancers& the States Claims agency fear around the cost implications of same – the purpose of screening needs to be for the greater good to society& to save the most lives by early detection not fear of closing down screen programmes due to the issues she highlights
@Oisin O’Connell: nuanced arguments are always drown out by the mob (and the media hold prime place in this mob, solicitors aren’t far behind). Screening has to be understood as population level prevention, not prevention of individual cancers. The whole point of a screening test is that it can be done on a large scale, at relatively low cost and is not invasive (i.e. won’t cause more harm than good due to complications). No screening test is 100% accurate by definition so setting a precedent whereby successful claims are made for missed cancers will simply bankrupt existing programmes (by definition, statistically speaking there will be missed cancers) and incentivize the Gov to not introduce any new screening programmes as you mentioned.
have your say