Cervical Cancer Screening - Ladies with Letters Renew Call for a Statutory Public Inquiry as Heath Minister Commissions Yet Another Review.
The Southern Health and Social Care Trust the Public Health agency have now published three reports on cervical screening. On Wednesday 5th November, the Health Minister Mike Nesbitt announced yet another review of all reports published to date to establish if there are any gaps or areas that require further investigation.
Our clients Ladies with Letters have made the following statement in respect of this:
“The Ladies with Letters campaign group acknowledges the publication of the long-awaited reports commissioned by the Health Minister with the aim of establishing the facts of what happened in the cervical screening scandal.
“Ladies with Letters did not agree with the forum or structure for these investigations at the time, not least because they did not facilitate the meaningful involvement of women who have been impacted by the crisis. Nonetheless, we have, in good faith, waited for the Minister to make good on his promise that if the reports did not give him the answers he sought, he would seriously consider the establishment of a Statutory Public Inquiry.
“We do thank the Health Minister for continuing to give this crucial issue his attention and listening to those affected but we question why he has chosen to ignore the calls from the many women and their families to establish a Statutory Public Inquiry.
“The Minister has said that the issues at hand are complex. He has said that he has commissioned a further expert report to identify any gaps in existing reports, prolonging this already drawn out process and further adding to anger and frustration. Our view has always been that gaps will inevitably remain unless the Minister listens to those who have suffered most and establishes an inquiry which is capable of 'looking behind' the data and statistics to establish what we suspect is a very human problem at the heart of these issues.
“An inquiry would also compel those involved, from the screeners to the management, to give an account of what went wrong so there is full transparency to enable us to understand why and how these failures were allowed to continue for a shocking 13-year period.
“Women have questioned the reliability of the statistics presented as we know that slides that may have been misread were reviewed in other labs with known underperformance, raising fears of repeated errors. Failures have now been confirmed in all areas of the province and there is a very real concern that more women will develop preventable cervical cancer in the future.
“We will continue to work together to establish the truth for all the women who have been affected and remain ready to engage with the Health Minister throughout this process. Over the coming days, we will review the contents of the report in detail, together with our members, and issue a comprehensive response in due course.”
If you have been impacted by the Southern Health and Social Care Trust (SHSCT) cervical screening review and would like further information, please contact us.