Freephone information line: 1800 45 45 55

Cervical Check Audit - Weekly Report, 28th May - 1st June, 2018

(28 May 2018)

The HSE Serious Incident Management Team continues to work to respond to the CervicalCheck audit. This report provides a progress update on the response to this evolving situation. 

1.     Supports for women directly affected

Hospitals have been working since the SIMT was established to contact all the women affected and to discuss the audit with them.

  • Cases where the audit showed their test could have provided a different result: 209 women
  • Contact made to date with: 208 women /families

The HSE’s Community Health Organisations have appointed dedicated liaison officers who have now further contacted the vast majority of the women in this group to offer them a range of supports to assist them.  This process is ongoing and is being coordinated with the relevant acute hospitals. The process will continue to be rolled out to all women directly affected. The priority for the HSE has been to ensure the women are contacted, meetings undertaken, referrals made and supports put in place.

The needs of the women are diverse, and range of services is being made available to all women, tailored to their individual needs and circumstances. This includes medical cards, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, home care packages, counselling, disability services, medication, transport and childcare costs and other supports. 

2.     Women diagnosed with cancer but not notified to CervicalCheck

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 Cervical Check test.

The HSE is working to conclude the matching process with the National Cancer Registry. We will then agree a communication process with the International Clinical Expert Review Panel for those women identified by the National Cancer Registry matching process. These will be the women who have been identified by the National Cancer Registry as having cervical cancer and who have had cytology with the national screening service.

The International Clinical Expert Review Panel is being established as part of the Government’s investigation into the national cervical cancer screening programme (CervicalCheck).  The terms of reference for this Expert Review Panel are currently under consideration by the Department of Health.

The main purpose of the panel is to provide women with facts and independent expert assessment of those facts.  The review will be carried out under the auspices of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists with expert input from the British Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology.

The scoping enquiry into the cervical check screening program, lead by Dr Gabriel Scally, has commenced its work.  Further information can be found at www.scallyreview.ie

3.     Contact from women concerned about the CervicalCheck audit

The information line established on April 28th continues to operate and women are being offered the facility to receive a call-back from a member of our staff. Since April 28th, 22,587 calls have been answered from women, and we have received 11,484 requests for calls to be returned.

The volume of incoming calls to our call centre and requests for callbacks has now reduced significantly, and there are additional call backs required to fully close out earlier calls and requests. We have teams working in Limerick, Cork, Waterford and Dublin, as well as Public Health specialists and hospitals right across the country, making contact with all of the women who have requested a call back, and to date we have made 13,042 calls to women.

These include cases where a second attempt is needed to speak with a caller or where a follow up call is necessary. Some more complex cases require additional calls in order to adequately address the queries raised by the women affected.  In addition CervicalCheck is also responding to call back requests made via email or social media.  

A number of women have requested copies of personal data and CervicalCheck are in the process of gathering this information in order to release these records to those women as soon as possible.

4.     Public Information - Advice and Support for Women

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, and women with a history of normal test results are advised to read the information on cervicalcheck.ie and then make contact with their GP if they remain concerned. Information and advice for women is being updated on cervicalcheck.ie and is being provided on a range of channels as described below.

  • Visits to CervicalCheck.ie  since April 26th - 336,395, 1,066,421 page views, 29,797 checked the register
  • Video advice for women with normal results featuring Dr. Peter McKenna, Consultant Obs/Gynae. Views: 10,627. Video Featuring Dr. Maitiu O’Tuathail, President of NAGP. Views: 117,824
  • Facebook Posts/Impressions -  12 posts/1.86 million impressions - 1,607 comments / 397 PMs replied to by HSE Comms
  • Twitter Activity: 80 Tweets since Friday 27th - 481,929 impressions - 14,927 engagements
  • Google Search Ads - 292,801 Impressions and 34,172 clicks since May 3rd

5.     Health Professional Information

  • Information for GPs and Smeartakers issued on May 2 and 9, This and an updated Q&A is available on cervicalcheck.ie
  • Information for Colposcopy Clinics and Cancer Centres circulated by email May 3
  • Advice Sheet for Women  published on cervicalcheck.ie and circulated to a wider range of patient and advocacy organisations May 4

Information about the CervicalCheck audit, and advice for anyone concerned, is on cervicalcheck.ie.

Is cuid den tSeirbhís Náisiúnta Scagthástála é CervicalCheck
Bosca Oifig Phoist 161, Luimneach
Saorghlao 1800 45 45 55
CervicalCheck is part of the National Cancer Screening Service
PO Box 161 Limerick
Freephone 1800 45 45 55

Web Design by Webtrade

Is cuid den Rannóg Sláinte agus Folláine i bhFeidhmeannacht na Seirbhíse Sláinte í an tSeirbhís Náisiúnta Scagthástála. Cuimsíonn sí BreastCheck – An Clár Náisiúnta Scagthástála Cíoch, CervicalCheck – An Clár Náisiúnta Scagthástála Ceirbheacs, BowelScreen – An Clár Náisiúnta Scagthástála Putóige agus Diabetic RetinaScreen – An Clár Náisiúnta Scagthástála Reitiní do Dhiaibéitigh.

The National Screening Service is part of the Health and Wellbeing Division of the Health Service Executive. It encompasses BreastCheck – The National Breast Screening Programme, CervicalCheck – The National Cervical Screening Programme, BowelScreen – The National Bowel Screening Programme and Diabetic RetinaScreen – The National Diabetic Retinal Screening Programme.