The health and safety watchdog is to review the operation of the State’s screening services to ensure improvements have been made following the CervicalCheck controversy.
In 2018, it emerged women diagnosed with cervical cancer had not been told of an audit of their previous smear tests, carried out after their diagnosis.
In many cases the audit results were different from the original test results, and this may have led to different treatment routines and outcomes for some of them. Many of these women have since died.
Following the revelations, the government issued a number of reports on the CervicalCheck screening programme, including its governance and operation.
READ MORE
On Wednesday, the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) announced it was to start a review of the governance arrangements by the Health Service Executive (HSE) for the provision of population-based health screening services in Ireland.
The National Screening Service, part of the HSE, provides four population-based health screening programmes: BreastCheck, CervicalCheck, BowelScreen and Diabetic RetinaScreen.
In addition, the National Healthy Childhood Programme delivers the National Bloodspot Screening Programme and the National Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Programme.
The review of the services will include interviews with key personnel involved in the governance and delivery of health screening services at both a programme level and national level.
It will also include a review of documentation and targeted risk-based inspections of the services where needed.
According to the terms of reference, the purpose of the review is to provide an “independent assurance to the public that required improvements to the way some screening services were provided have been made and are sustained across all programmes currently in operation”.
“Such a review is of importance, not only because of the vital role screening plays in early detection of potential disease in what is a growing and ageing population in Ireland, but also because there is a potential for screening services to grow into the future.”
Sean Egan, Hiqa’s director of healthcare regulation, said screening is “vital for the early detection and treatment of cancer, diabetic retinopathy and inherited conditions and hearing difficulties in newborn babies”.
“This review aims to ensure that any such growth in Ireland’s health screening services is built upon strong foundations, supporting continuous improvement as services develop,” he said.
“It is an opportunity for a proactive, independent assessment of the screening services to provide assurance to the public. Should we identify areas for improvement, we will make recommendations.”
