A leading campaigner in the CervicalCheck scandal has quit a key oversight committee in frustration at how a review of women’s smear tests was conducted.

After a year of “moving the goalposts” on the publication of the CervicalCheck review, it is "unacceptable” parts of the report were leaked to the media before the women involved had their results, Labour has claimed.

Simon Harris had promised that a new policy to remunerate and support patient advocates who give up their time to sit on boards and steering committees would be published by the end of this month at the very latest.

CervicalCheck campaigners have criticised the pace of change in the health service on the same day that a “watershed” State apology was delivered in the Dáil.

Once upon a time, we put our unquestioning trust in our doctors, in our healthcare service. But a revolution has been happening, quietly, unstoppable.

CervicalCheck is beginning to function as normal, with waiting times for smear results largely down to seven weeks from a record high of 33 weeks, when the smear test backlog hit 80,000.

However, he says it will be some months before he will have full confidence in the screening programme in Ireland.

The Health Minister is to introduce measures to pay patient representatives after the Government was accused of "exploiting" those who give up their time to help improve the health service.

Health Minister Simon Harris confirmed the apology after he and the Taoiseach met with members of the 221+ CervicalCheck patient support group.

A “huge communications failure” is how the latest CervicalCheck scandal, which left thousands of women in the dark for months about their test results, is described in a damning report.

HSE chief executive Paul Reid has apologised to the thousands of women affected by delays in their cervical smear test results.

A request from CervicalCheck patient representatives for the establishment of a paid patient advocacy programme has not received any “meaningful” response from the Department of Health four months after the appeal was made.

The HSE was still working last night to establish if all 52 women who tested positive for a virus that increases the risk of cancer have been made aware of their results.

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

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

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A review of the latest smear check scandal will not examine whether women have been delayed treatment or a cervical cancer diagnosis.

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

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.

A tribunal to deal with CervicalCheck claims will not begin hearing cases until the Supreme Court rules on a High Court judgment involving a woman terminally ill with cervical cancer.

Gabriel Scally has hit out at the Government for “exploiting” patient advocates who give up their time to help improve and transform the health sector.

A second report by Dr Gabriel Scally into the testing controversy has found further outsourcing of slides, which neither the HSE nor the national cancer screening programme was aware of.

The interim head of screening at the National Screening Service has written to women caught up in the CervicalCheck scandal outlining what they can expect if they sign up to an ex gratia scheme — but patient representatives said the main reaction was one of disappointment.

A father of two who has advocated for improved cancer screening after his wife died of cervical cancer has appealed to the public to take part in Irish Cancer Society family fun runs this summer.

Cervical cancer campaigner Stephen Teap is calling on the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to see if there is any way the State can step in and streamline the process under which cervical cancer victims have to take legal proceedings.

The establishment of an independent statutory tribunal to deal with claims arising from the CervicalCheck scandal has been delayed by Brexit, it has emerged.

Just one in five health and social care workers has been formally briefed on the HSE’s open disclosure policy, and only one in 25 has attended a training workshop — five years after patients were assured the policy would be standard practice.

Health Minister Simon Harris has hit back at criticisms levelled at him by the former HSE chief, saying Tony O’Brien took the “right decision” to step down.

A father of two who has advocated for improved cancer screening after it emerged that his wife died arising out of deficiencies in CervicalCheck has received the Irish Tatler magazine man of the year award.

Stephen Teap has given an initial welcome to the Scally report, saying he is satisfied with it.

Patient advocates Vicky Phelan and Stephen Teap have warned that the Government is trying to delay a review into CervicalCheck smear tests as it will show that up to another 200 women were misdiagnosed.

The HSE has finally supplied the head of the CervicalCheck probe with the information he needs to conduct his inquiry two months after he was appointed to the job.

The CervicalCheck scoping inquiry has been severely hampered by the failure of state bodies to supply it with legible documentation, leading to accusations of deliberate obstruction.

The husband of Irene Teap, who died after two false negative cervical checks, has released a picture of her supporting the Repeal the Eighth movement.

Department of Health chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan has ignored calls to resign over the cervical cancer tests scandal by controversially claiming he would not be doing his job if he informed ministers of every health crisis.

Two women with cervical cancer “who do not have time on their hands” have been refused their own medical records, the Dáil has heard.

“If I do die, I do not want it to be in vain.”

Thirty five of the country’s top health officials need to be removed from their posts while an inquiry takes place into the smear tests scandal, terminally ill mother Vicky Phelan has said.

Cervical cancer victim Vicky Phelan and the widower of Irene Teap, who lost her life due to the same scandal, will attend a special Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting today to highlight what questions they still have over the crisis.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Simon Harris are protecting an “old boys’ club” which runs this State despite it costing the lives of women, the Dáil has heard.

Irene Teap is one of 17 women who died after receiving incorrect results.

Irene Teap wrote of how the joy on her two sons’ faces on a family trip to Disneyland was “the very best medicine” just two months before she died of cervical cancer.

The Government’s cervical cancer tests scandal review will examine serious fears that the State failed to ensure the quality of the labs to which it outsourced services — but may delay its findings until the end of June.