A culture of “putting women first” will be developed by the HSE, as an immediate step, following the publication of the latest CervicalCheck report - a 74-page document into an IT error which led to more than 4,080 women failing to receive their result of a test for HPV.

Micheál Martin has questioned how “alarm bells” didn’t go off in the Department of Health when they received a letter from a woman waiting on smear test results.

More than 50 women caught up in the latest CervicalCheck controversy have tested positive for the HPV virus.

Ministers have expressed full confidence in Simon Harris over the latest CervicalCheck controversy impacting 800 women.

The Chairperson of the CervicalCheck rapid review has said he has started investigating the latest CervicalCheck scandal.

Women involved in the latest CervicalCheck scandal are losing faith in the system and want answers, that’s according to ‘Sharon’, the woman who revealed the most recent problem with communications within the service.

A CervicalCheck patient support group has welcomed the HSE's decision

Read More:

Minister for Health Simon Harris has said it is “highly regrettable” that patient representatives were kept in the dark on the latest CervicalCheck controversy.

The HSE has announced that there will be "an immediate rapid review" into the IT glitch that led to 800 women not receiving their smear test results.

A key member of a committee set up to drive change in the national cervical cancer screening programme is considering quitting because she no longer has faith in it.

The HSE has known since February of an IT glitch that led to delayed smear test results for 800 women — but mistakenly believed that the laboratory processing the tests was communicating the results manually.

Health Minister Simon Harris has pledged that a backlog of approximately 40,000 smear tests will be cleared by mid-September.

Health Minister Simon Harris has pledged that a backlog of approximately 40,000 smear tests will be cleared by mid-September.

The HSE has confirmed there are a number of other women caught up in the latest CervicalCheck controversy in addition to the 800 revealed yesterday.

The HSE has been urged to clarify if there are any clinical implications for the 800 women who did not receive smear test results as a result of an IT glitch.

Approximately 800 women were not issued with their CervicalCheck results due to a technology issue, the HSE said.

A tribunal to hear and determine claims from women and families impacted by the CervicalCheck scandal is to get Government sign-off today.

A partial appeal by the State Claims Agency (SCA) of a High Court judgment that found in favour of a woman terminally ill with cervical cancer will not include an appeal of the €2.16m in damages awarded to her.

The Minister for Health has confirmed that the State will appeal the €2.1m compensation award granted to Ruth Morrissey.

An unaccredited Manchester laboratory that screened more than 90,000 smears without the knowledge or approval of CervicalCheck should be the focus of an ongoing expert review of the screening history of women with cervical cancer, patient representatives have said.

A report examining the scale of outsourcing of smear tests by laboratories contracted to do the work by the HSE will be brought to the Cabinet today.

It follows weeks of uncertainty, with slides put into storage as there were no labs to process them.

Screening programmes should not be paused, the health minister has said, after several professional medical bodies warned their viability was under threat in the wake of a recent landmark High Court judgment.

So that’s Friday nearly wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

Cian O’Carroll, the solicitor for Ruth Morrissey, has described comments by Dr Peter McKenna of the HSE about the possibility of the withdrawal of screening programmes, as “vindictive.”

US laboratory Quest Diagnostics today confirmed before the High Court it is to appeal the landmark judgement in the case of terminally ill Ruth Morrissey who last week was awarded €2.1m.

Victims of the CervicalCheck scandal are pleading for other women to be spared the ordeal that a terminally-ill cancer patient was put through, to win her landmark compensation case.

Terminally ill Ruth Morrissey may have won her landmark High Court action and been awarded a total of €2.1m against the HSE and two US laboratories over the testing of her CervicalCheck smear slides, but there was little to celebrate as she left the Four Courts.

Mr Justice Kevin Cross said Ruth Morrissey’s life had been ruined and she has suffered a life sentence which she is fully aware is expected to take effect within two years and for which there is no reasonable prospect of a reprieve.

The health authority's national director of screening services, Damien McCallion, said there is currently a backlog of 79,500 slides, with some samples taking up to 33 weeks to be reviewed.

Labour Party health spokesperson Alan Kelly has called on the HSE to honour its commitment to women who underwent a repeat smear test that they would have results back in four to six weeks.

Just 7% of women who got a repeat smear test from a lab used by CervicalCheck have received their results.

Two people who screened the now terminally ill Ruth Morrissey’s smear test for the MedLab laboratory in 2012 which came back as negative have been withdrawn from the witness list in the long-running case.

The mother of five who settled for €7.5m her action over her CervicalCheck smears was buried last week after losing her battle with cancer which had spread to her brain.

Emma Mhic Mhathúna was one of the key figures at the centre of the Cervical Check controversy.

Ms Mhic Mhathúna passed away aged 37 on Sunday morning.

Emma Mhic Mhathúna came to the Four Courts a victor not a victim.

Kerry mother Emma Mhic Mhathúna and her five children who sued over CervicalCheck smears have settled their legal action for €7.5m.

The HSE was aware of issues around the testing of cervical smear samples at labs in the US as far back as 2007, when a consultant pathologist in Cork University Hospital sought a review of samples that were given the all clear, despite patients being at risk of cervical cancer.

At least 10 more women have begun taking legal action against the HSE and testing labs after their cervical smear tests were bungled.

Peter Foley, CEO of Let’s Get Checked, recently announced a €2.5m deal with Quest Diagnostics, one of the largest laboratories in the US.

Half of all cervical smears are still being sent to the US for analysis even though a Dublin laboratory has the capacity to process them all in Ireland.

PUBLIC health doctors have called for mandatory rehabilitation for anyone found guilty of drink driving.