The head of CervicalCheck has apologised for “inconsiderate and hurtful” remarks she made about women making claims against the service in a meeting almost two years ago.
Dr Nóirín Russell said she was sorry for the comments she made during a conversation with Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín but said that they do not reflect her views today.
In a video conversation she had with the Meath TD in December 2020, Dr Russell said some lawyers were making “huge amounts of money” out of court cases representing women who had been screened and later developed cervical cancer.
Some women were being told “if someone did their job right, you would not have cancer and for the vast majority of women that is not the situation,” according to a transcript of the private meeting between Dr Russell, the politicians and officials.
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Dr Russell said the tribunal set up by the Government to facilitate claims from women was important because the women who had stage one cancer “probably know in [their] heart and soul that [they] haven’t been wronged,” according to excerpts from the transcript of her conversation with Mr Tóibín, published by The Sunday Times.
“You might kinda know, it’s probably not worth my while going down to the High Court, I don’t think my story is gonna get me a whole pile of money but I might get some money from the tribunal — and I think that’s why a lot of women went.”
The CervicalCheck controversy came to light in 2018 after Limerick woman Vicky Phelan, who has cervical cancer and is terminally ill, settled her High Court case for €2.5 million after she was given incorrect smear test results.
A subsequent inquiry established that CervicalCheck and its doctors failed to inform hundreds of women of an audit of their cervical smear tests after being diagnosed with cancer. A tribunal set up in December 2020 to provide an alternative to court proceedings has dealt with about 20 claims.
The 221+ Group, which represents women affected by the controversy, said many of its members were being “re-traumatised” by the comments.
“It is consistent with what we have heard and felt over the past two years and it’s a relief that the public can now see the attitudes behind closed doors that we have been dealing with.”
The group said: “What happens now as a consequence of these revelations is a matter for others.”
In a statement, Dr Russell said she had been in the role of clinical director for just a few months at the time of her private meeting with Mr Tóibín. “It was an informal discussion around complex issues which I wasn’t aware was being recorded.”
Now, two years later, with the knowledge and personal experience gained in her role, she fully accepts her remarks were “careless and hurtful to women”.
“I am sorry for the impression the remarks give because they do not reflect my view.”
From a clinical perspective, finding a stage one cervical cancer “is viewed as a positive thing as it offers a woman a real chance of cure for this terrible cancer,” she explained.
“I completely understand and accept that women who received a cancer diagnosis were upset and traumatised to find out they had cancer after having done all the right things by attending screening. For some of them this was compounded by the rushed and inadequate way we communicated their audit findings to them at that time. I also accept fully their right to seek redress either via the courts or the tribunal. I truly regret the upset caused to women by these remarks and I apologise sincerely for that.”
“I really regret that a meeting arranged by me with an interested Dáil deputy to advance these aims may now have the opposite effect. I know my remarks, made in what I trusted was a private meeting, were inconsiderate and hurtful, and I am sorry.”
Mr Tóibín described his meeting with Dr Russell as “unbelievable” and said CervicalCheck was “attempting to rewrite history”.
“It is a slap in the face to the mothers and fathers who’ve lost daughters, to the people who’ve lost wives and partners, to the children who’ve lost mothers. An apology means nothing unless you accept and admit that you did something wrong.”
Health Service Executive chief executive Paul Reid said he “very much regretted” Dr Russell’s remarks, which did not reflect the views of the HSE or National Screening Service. “The comments are no doubt very hurtful to the women and families affected by what happened in Cervical Check in 2018 and I think the sincere apology made by Dr Russell was necessary and appropriate. I know too that she made these remarks almost two years ago in the course of a long discussion, she says they do not reflect her view and I accept that.”
Mr Reid said he has spoken to a 221+ representative and wants to work with the group to “reset and restrengthen” relations to build a cervical screening programme that enjoys the trust and confidence of women.
