Freephone information line: 1800 45 45 55

CervicalCheck Daily Report 13 May 2018

(13 May 2018)

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 0.32
13/5 87 39 0.10
Total 15,753 9,925  

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, 5,849 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   245,450 since April 26
778,734 page views, 22,268 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: 9,916
Video featuring Dr Maitiu O’Tuathail offering advice to women: 92,000

Facebook PostsCervicalCheck/HSE

Impressions

Comments on page

Private Messages

12

Over 1.4 million impressions now reached

1,522 comments reviewed by HSE Comms

304 all replied to by HSE Comms

Twitter Activity:

66 Tweets since Apr 27

375,913 impressions

13,259 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 166,626 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

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

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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.