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04th May 2018

HSE reveals that another woman has been affected by the CervicalCheck scandal, bringing the total to 209

Kate Demolder

Laura Brennan

The new figure was published in a press release on Friday evening.

Following recent investigations, the HSE has identified another woman who has been affected by the CervicalCheck scandal, bringing the total number of women affected to 209.

According to a recent press release, most women have at this stage been contacted and meetings either held or arranged to discuss the audit and the response.

Work is still underway to contact 13 of the women affected or their families.

To date 196 women have been contacted about their past smears which were incorrectly misinterpreted, according to HSE Serious Incident Management Team (SIMT).

The HSE is working with the National Cancer Registry of Ireland and the Department of Health to identify any other women who had cervical cancer during this time, who may also have had a CervicalCheck test.

The controversy relates to 209 women who were diagnosed with cervical cancer following a smear test, but were misdiagnosed at the time. The case was brought to light by Limerick woman Vicky Phelan, a woman who has been recently diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer following years of misdiagnosis.

Seventeen of the women who had not been alerted to the possible health risks have died. Only two of them were told of the errors before their death.

The HSE released a statement earlier this week apologising for the disservice they’ve done to the women and their families.

Health Minister Simon Harris has since called for free repeat exams following the scandal’s publication.

Over 10,000 women have contacted a recently established helpline set up by CervicalCheck amid fears over their smear tests. The HSE said calls “are being returned to women following a careful exercise of checking records, checking data quality and assigning calls to health professionals”.

The HSE SIMT also released some public information for those who’ve grown worried following the results of the audit.

“We have been working to address the worries that have been created by this audit, and while our information line is available for specific queries, we have very clear advice for women who have had a CervicalCheck test and previously received a normal result,” the statement began.

“The clinical advice is that women who have had normal test results in the past can continue to participate in the cervical screening programme according to their normal schedule.

“We are working to provide information to women across a range of alternative channels to assist those whose query can be answered without the need for them to call the CervicalCheck information line.

“Since we began measures to provide alternative channels of information, the proportion of callers having their information needs met and not requesting a call back has dropped significantly.”

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