Minister:Minister for Health Mary Harney yesterday ruled out the need for a review of all mammograms nationally but said that reviews would take place wherever medical staff have raised issues or where patients have raised concerns with their GP. Barry Roche, Southern Correspondent, reports.
Ms Harney confirmed that she had received clinical advice from the medical team at the Department of Health and Children that it would not be practical, desirable or necessary to carry out a full review of screening services, given the number of tests being done each year.
"We do about 15,000 mammograms a year outside the breast screening and it wouldn't be either practical or necessary to review all those mammograms but if there are any issues where doctors or senior nurses have an issue, then we will put a review in place," she said.
Ms Harney added that if patients had concerns arising from any screening at any centre, then a review would also be carried out of that case. "If any patient, for example, goes to their general practitioner and are concerned, then clearly we will review the case."
Asked about a statement from the consultant at the centre of the controversy in Portlaoise, Dr Visa Moodley, that she felt victimised, Ms Harney said that it would be inappropriate for her to comment in advance of the report of Dr Ann O'Doherty on the service at Portlaoise.
"All 3,026 mammograms [from Portlaoise] were reviewed by three radiologists with specialist breast radiology experience in Dublin and they have found that a number of cancers were not diagnosed. Who is responsible for that remains to be determined .
"I have to await the report of Dr Ann O'Doherty - it's not a matter for me to comment in advance of that but clearly the HSE didn't put somebody on administrative leave lightly and therefore I have to assume that when the HSE did that, they had very good reason to do it."
Ms Harney denied that the health service was in crisis and she paid tribute to HSE chief executive Brendan Drumm for his "courage, vision and determination".
"We've an outstanding health service in Ireland. . . if you take cancer alone, over 100,000 more people are treated here each year than a decade ago and not only are more people being treated but they are being treated in better circumstances than was the case a decade ago.
"Our survival rates in breast cancer have increased by 6 per cent - that means that six women out of every 100 who would have died no longer die, and that's a remarkable improvement over a short period," she added.