There was a belief, maybe a hope, that this controversy could not get any worse. But, of course, it did.
Just over 24 hours after it emerged 162 women were not notified of a potential delay in their cancer diagnoses, the Dáil was informed there may be worse to come.
Minister for Health Simon Harris broke the news that he himself had received 15 minutes previously: the audit conducted by CervicalCheck did not include all cases of cervical cancer. Essentially, there is a significant number of cases that were not reviewed and therefore, there may be more women affected by this controversy.
The Minister’s statement to the Dáil also confirmed he is learning the magnitude of this problem at the same time we are. Political accountability is absolutely necessary, especially in a crisis of this size.
In this instance, it appears the Minister was kept in the dark. He received an information note on April 16th advising him a court case that might attract some publicity.
That same memo also informed him there was no patient safety issues involved in the legal challenge. The crucial question is who in the Department of Health wrote this note, what did they base their information on, did they mislead the Minister or did CervicalCheck give inaccurate or deliberate misleading information to the Department of Health?
Politicians must stand accountable for the decisions and the errors they make. However, when does the public service stand accountable for the errors it makes?
The clinical director of CervicalCheck Dr Gráinne Flannelly made the decision to stand aside last week after Mr Harris declared he had no confidence in her.
The comments of the Minister were treated with shock and disdain within the public service. This had not happened before. Few public servants have had to walk the plank in such a fashion.
It appears management of CervicalCheck knew the full extent of this. Who did they inform? And what did the recipients of the information do with that knowledge?
Did people within the Department of Health or the Health Service Executive withhold that information from Harris or the HSE director-general Tony O'Brien?
The inquiry by the Health Information and Quality Authority is essential for all involved but that should not allow anyone to hide behind the investigation and fail to answer these important questions.
