The HSE was wrong to tell women in the midlands that they had nothing to worry about, writes Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent
On August 31st last, when a review of thousands of mammograms and ultrasounds at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise was announced, the Health Service Executive said that it wished to reassure patients that there was "no need for concern".
A few days later, on September 4th, Dr Mary Hynes, assistant national director with the HSE's National Hospitals Office, told The Irish Times that to her knowledge the problem at Portlaoise was one of "over-diagnosis" of breast cancer, with some patients receiving false positive results. To her knowledge, there was no woman who had "a missed diagnosis" at the hospital, she said.
But the news yesterday that the review, although still not complete, had found that seven women who underwent mammograms at the hospital since November 2003 were wrongly given the all-clear when in fact they had breast cancer proves that the HSE was far too hasty in saying the women involved in the review had nothing to worry about.
Furthermore, it now seems that the seven breast cancer cases were uncovered purely by chance, given that it was false positive results the HSE had been looking for.
But the harsh reality for the seven women is that their breast cancer diagnosis has been delayed. By how long the HSE is not yet saying. The delayed diagnosis, when all the experts say early diagnosis of breast cancer is essential for good outcomes, is shocking and must be extremely traumatic.
These were women who went forward for breast examinations when they had concerns about their health, and they were wrongly given the all-clear. They were let down by the system.
What other women will now wonder is whether they can trust their breast cancer test results.
The Irish Cancer Society advises any woman with concerns about results to return to their GP. It also says women with fears about breast cancer should insist on being seen by multi-disciplinary teams. In the future, in line with plans announced recently, these will be centralised at eight centres of excellence. While they will come too late for the seven women in the midlands, it would seem now the sooner they are up and running the better for all.
The HSE has apologised to the seven women. It also apologised to Rebecca O'Malley when it emerged in May that her breast cancer diagnosis had been delayed for 14 months. The HSE said then that it expected her misdiagnosis would prove to be "an isolated incident". It was wrong there too.
Dr Hynes acknowledged yesterday that the seven women had been let down. "I think what we can do now for those women is just try and offer them the best possible treatment and care as they go through the illness and try and strengthen our breast cancer services . . . to try and lessen the chances of something like this happening in future," she said.
Cold comfort indeed.