Cervical screening slides delay
Deputy Catherine Murphy raised delays in returning cervical screening slides to women affected by the scandal and said the HSE had ownership rights to retrieve them quickly. The Taoiseach said he would check the matter and could not see why retrieval should take months.
I wish to raise an issue relating to the cervical screening scandal. I was contacted by the husband of one of the 221 women who have been caught up in the scandal. He told me that the majority of women who requested their slides have not got them six months after they requested them. Some time ago I looked at the MedLab Pathology and Quest Diagnostics contracts and raised the matter at the Committee of Public Accounts. The contracts provide that the HSE can retrieve these slides within three days, so there is no question as to ownership of the slides. There must be a commitment today that there will not be further delay in delivering this basic information to these women. I am shocked we are still talking about this and that the goalposts have changed on the issue to the point that it is causing unnecessary trouble to people who are under terrific stress. Will the Taoiseach give me this commitment today?
Comment on this
I will certainly commit to checking up on the matter. If someone requests his or her slides, I can understand why it might take a couple of weeks. I do not see why it should take a couple of months. I will ask my people to follow up on the matter to see the reason for the delay. I totally agree. It should not take that long.