The HSE Serious Incident Management Team has been working to respond to the failings revealed by the CervicalCheck audit. This report is being provided daily to outline and provide a progress update on the response to this evolving situation.
1. Contact with 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: |
207 women /families |
The HSE Community Health Organisations have contacted the majority of the women affected to offer a range of supports to assist them. This process is being coordinated with the relevant acute hospitals. 44 initial meetings have taken place with another 53 meetings scheduled. The process will continue to be rolled out to all women directly affected.
The package of services being made available was announced by Government on Friday May 11th and will include medical cards, counselling and psychology supports, reimbursement of medicines and treatments, childcare and travel costs and arrangements are being put in place as a matter of urgency.
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.
HSE will conclude the matching process with the National Cancer Registry in the next week. 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.
3. Contact from women concerned about the CervicalCheck audit
Over the past number of weeks, women in Ireland have been understandably worried following the failures in communication about this audit. An information line was provided to women from April 28th, and women were offered the facility to receive a call-back from a member of our clinical staff.
|
Calls Answered |
Call back requests |
Avg. wait times |
28/4 |
866 |
744 |
7:28 |
29/4 |
1,076 |
935 |
7:06 |
30/4 |
1,891 |
1,725 |
17:26 |
1/5 |
2,109 |
1,473 |
2:55 |
2/5 |
1,991 |
1,327 |
3:40 |
3/5 |
1,619 |
849 |
0:41 |
4/5 |
983 |
373 |
0:16 |
5/5 |
218 |
105 |
0:06 |
6/5 |
93 |
62 |
0:09 |
7/5 |
234 |
125 |
0:17 |
8/5 |
1262 |
593 |
0:18 |
9/5 |
947 |
396 |
0:11 |
10/5 |
838 |
484 |
0.46 |
11/5 |
1353 |
776 |
0.55 |
12/5 |
186 |
120 |
0.32 |
13/5 |
87 |
39 |
0.10 |
14/5 |
811 |
297 |
|
15/5 |
1266 |
443 |
0.11 |
16/5 |
771 |
158 |
0.09 |
17/5 |
540 |
126 |
0.05 |
18/5 |
496 |
81 |
0.05 |
19/5 |
22 |
14 |
0.05 |
20/5 |
88 |
22 |
|
21/5 |
367 |
125 |
0.06 |
22/5 |
422 |
74 |
0.11 |
23/5 |
340 |
26 |
0.11 |
Total |
20,898 |
11,292 |
|
To date, 10,485 calls have been returned to women, and every effort will continue to be made to ensure that contact is made as quickly as possible with all those who have requested a call back. We have teams working in Limerick, Cork, Waterford and Dublin, as well as Public Health specialists and hospitals and right across the country, making contact with all of the women who have requested a call back and answering their queries, with personal health records and advice where appropriate.
4. Public Information - Advice and Support for Women
Every effort is being made to provide information and advice to women who may be concerned. Information and advice for women is being updated on cervicalcheck.ie and is being provided on a range of channels as described below.
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.
Women should be directed to cervicalcheck.ie in the first instance for information and advice on what to do.
Visits to CervicalCheck.ie |
309,754 since April 26
984,765 page views, 28,035 checked the register |
Top Sources of traffic to cervicalcheck.ie |
Organic searches, direct, social media, paid search, news sites |
Video advice for women with normal results |
Featuring Dr. Peter McKenna, Consultant Obs/Gynae. Views: 10,476
Featuring Dr. Maitiu O’Tuathail, President of NAGP. Views: 117.5k
|
Facebook PostsCervicalCheck/HSE
Impressions
Comments on page
Private Messages
|
12
1.8 million impressions
1,604 comments reviewed by HSE Comms
375 all replied to by HSE Comms
|
Twitter Activity:
|
79 Tweets since Friday 27th April
468,519 impressions
14,902 engagements
|
Text messages issued to women who called the Information line |
Approx. 7,000 SMS issued May 3
Text message sent to approx. 7,500 people on May 8 apologising for the delay in returning calls
|
Google Search Ads |
258,065, impressions and 30,560 clicks since May 3rd |
5. Health Professional 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. CervicalCheck has issued an update to GPs and smear-takers participating in the programme, and to colposcopy clinics and cancer centres nationwide.
Information for GPs and Smeartakers |
Published on May 2
Posted to GPs/Smeartakers May 2 and 3
Updated Q&A and Advice Sheet for Women being published on May 4
A further communication issued to all GPs on May 9 advising them of the reimbursement arrangements for women who have requested an additional smear. This along with an updated Q&A is now available on www.cervicalcheck.ie
|
Information for Colposcopy Clinics and Cancer Centres |
Circulated by email May 3
|
Advice Sheet for Women |
Published and circulated to a wider range of patient and advocacy organisations May 4
|