Scally Report likely to overhaul Cervical Check completely for “keeping women in the dark”

The report is a full review of the Cervical Check scandal which saw 209 women receive incorrect smear test results.

Cabinet ministers will, on Wednesday, discuss a review of the recent Cervical Check controversy which allocated over 200 incorrect smear test results to Irish women under the Cervical Check system. This comes after a number of key details of the report conducted by Dr Gabriel Scally – a trained MD who had been appointed by the Government to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the scandal – were leaked in the media yesterday before those affected by the scandal could be briefed. A number of those affected by the incorrect diagnoses announced that they were outraged and "heartbroken" by the leak, directing their blame to Health Minister Simon Harris and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. The Health Minister added that he did not know who leaked the report, but that he would like to know and will try to find out. The report – which will be published in full on Wednesday – has reviewed the breakdown in the system as well as the cases of 209 women who received false negative results from the State’s national screening programme. It's expected that Scally will condemn the programme for "keeping women in the dark" and recommend that it should be overhauled entirely. Dr Gabriel Scally will say that the programme was not monitored by senior officials and that there were "system-wide failures" in the HSE and Department of Health. The 200-page report will make 50 recommendations but not single out anyone for blame. The Cervical Check scandal involved 221 women who developed cervical cancer after receiving incorrect results from a series of smear tests. Nineteen of the women have died and several others are terminally ill.