Clinical reviews:The HSE confirmed yesterday that arrangements are being made for the remaining 15 women whose breast cancer ultrasound scans are being reviewed by the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise to be invited to attend an emergency clinic tomorrow.
The HSE confirmed that 82 of the 97 women who needed to be be "re-assessed" had attended the clinic on Saturday where three specialists - Prof Arnie Hill, a consultant breast surgeon at Beaumont Hospital, Enda McDermott of St Vincent's hospital, and Mike Allen of Beaumont Hospital - conducted clinical reviews.
Meanwhile, Charlie Flanagan, the Portlaoise-based Fine Gael TD, has criticised the lack of support and counselling for women affected by the review. Speaking in Portlaoise on Saturday, Mr Flanagan said he had been contacted by one of the nine women who was diagnosed with cancer following the earlier review of mammograms by the hospital. She had originally been given the all-clear.
Mr Flanagan said the "woman received no support or counselling other than a letter telling her to present herself for surgery at Portlaoise next Thursday and not to eat beforehand".
He said another woman rang him last Friday to say that her breast surgery had been cancelled because "there was no bed". He described the HSE approach to these women "whom Mary Harney claims are in the fast-track for treatment" as "uncaring, curt and unacceptable". Mr Flanagan said the HSE should have provided a team of people to call personally to these women "who need a friendly word on behalf of the State" rather than just communicating by telephone or letter. He said the HSE was failing to provide a "caring, people-driven health service".
Mr Flanagan also expressed concern at the lack of capacity in Dublin hospitals for women from the Midlands who will require treatment as a result of the review. He had been told by a member of a cancer team at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin that it was "bursting at the seams".
Meanwhile, Offaly-based Fine Gael TD Olwyn Enright, who called to the emergency clinic in Portlaoise on Saturday, said the disparity between the quality of service offered to those who can pay and those who cannot is "totally unacceptable". She disclosed how she had attended her GP for a suspect lump in her breast but "as a local woman with health insurance" had gone "privately" to a Dublin hospital for tests and received the all-clear.