Two separate reviews of the Health Service Executive's (HSE's) handling of the Portlaoise breast cancer controversy are now under way.
In addition to the one commissioned by the HSE board which is to be carried out by former Dublin city manager John Fitzgerald, the chief executive officer of the HSE, Prof Brendan Drumm, has also initiated his own review.
It has emerged that the review for Prof Drumm is to be chaired by Ann Doherty, national director of corporate planning and control processes with the HSE. She will be assisted by Mary Shore, director of quality, risk and consumer affairs at Dublin's St Vincent's Hospital, and Barry O'Brien, assistant national director of human resources with HSE South.
Asked why it was necessary to hold two reviews, a HSE spokesman stated that the review for Prof Drumm covered a longer time frame from the one initiated by the HSE board.
He said the review for Prof Drumm would report on the circumstances that led to the decisions by the HSE to suspend breast radiology services at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise in August 2007.
The Irish Times understands it will also review the decision to place a consultant radiologist at the hospital on administrative leave and the decision to initiate a review of breast scans at the hospital going back to November 2003.
The HSE spokesman said the review being conducted by Mr Fitzgerald for the HSE board would look at the HSE's management of events following the decision to suspend breast radiology service at the Portlaoise hospital.
Both reviews are expected to be completed within weeks and the findings of each will be sent to the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, who faced a vote of no confidence in the Dáil over the handing of the whole affair.
These latest two reviews of events at Portlaoise are in addition to the already well-publicised review of more than 3,000 mammograms read at the Portlaoise hospital by Dr Ann O'Doherty of BreastCheck and Dublin's St Vincent's Hospital.
Her review found nine women were wrongly given the all clear for breast cancer. The report of her findings is now with the HSE, which is seeking legal advice on its contents before it can be published.
There was also a separate review of breast ultrasounds carried out for the HSE at Portlaoise hospital by one of its surgeons, Peter Naughton, which resulted in more than 100 women being recalled for surgical review.
To date, it is believed no serious concerns arose about the health of any of these women when they were recalled.
However, the manner in which this review was announced out of the blue at an Oireachtas committee meeting last month caused outrage as none of the women had been told at that point that they were being recalled.
Neither Prof Drumm nor Ms Harney had been informed either.