Call for HSE updates on cancer centre standards

A WOMAN whose diagnosis of breast cancer was delayed due to an error at the laboratory where her biopsy was read has suggested the Health Service Executive should publish regular updates showing progress in meeting national standards at designated centres of excellence.

Rebecca O’Malley from Co Tipperary had her breast cancer diagnosis delayed by 14 months after a laboratory error was made at Cork University Hospital in 2005. She had a mastectomy at a clinic in London in 2006.

Commenting on the revelation that Waterford Regional Hospital was failing to meet 36 out of 48 national standards when it was assessed last year, Ms O’Malley said she was “shocked, but perhaps not surprised”.

“It’s a very mixed performance and, considering that breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, I think women in Ireland would be concerned to hear that news,” she added.

“People are feeling confused and they just don’t know who to trust and who to listen to, and really what the story is. Unfortunately, I think the trust has been lost. Is what the HSE is saying is happening actually happening, or is it assurance talk – ‘let’s just blanket reassure everybody that everything is okay?’ . . .

“Why aren’t the HSE able to say exactly what has been achieved, what hasn’t, what the timescales are for implementing what hasn’t been achieved?”

The recommendations that followed an investigation into her own case was published in April last year. The most recent update should have been ready by the end of March this year, she said, “and there’s still no sign” of it. “By my reckoning, there’s more than half of the 15 recommendations that cannot be ticked off yet.”