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: |
203 women /families |
*The work of the SIMT to review information available has identified an additional woman that requires follow-up.
Most women have at this stage been contacted and meetings either held or arranged to discuss the audit and the response.
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 CervicalCheck test. Reconciliation of data on relevant cases is currently ongoing between CervicalCheck and NCRI.
3. Contact from women concerned about the CervicalCheck audit
This week 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 |
|
Total |
15,666 |
9,866 |
|
The service provided on our information line and waiting times continue to improve, but our clinical call team remain extremely busy. Priority for call backs from the clinical team is being given to women with specific clinical queries or a history of cervical cancer.
To date, 5,772 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, and in hospitals 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 |
229,416 since April 26
761,272 page views, 21,700 checked the register |
Top Sources of traffic to cervicalcheck.ie |
Organic searches, social media, news sites |
Video advice for women with normal results |
Featuring Dr. Peter McKenna, Consultant Obs/Gynae. Views: 9,787
Video featuring Dr Maitiu O’Tuathail offering advice to women: 25,000 |
Facebook PostsCervicalCheck/HSE
Impressions
Comments on page
Private Messages
|
12
Over 1.4 million impressions now reached
1,407 comments reviewed by HSE Comms
300 all replied to by HSE Comms
|
Twitter Activity:
|
63 Tweets since Apr 27
349,637 impressions
12,574 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 |
153,830 impressions and 19,293 clicks since May 3 |
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 cervicalcheck.ie May 2
Posted to GPs/Smeartakers May 2 and 3
Updated Q&A and Advice Sheet for Women being published on cervicalcheck.ie 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 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.
Other information
Information for women concerned about their smear test results can be found here
Information for healthcare professionals from CervicalCheck can be found here