Journalists should have asked about ultrasounds specifically, says HSE

THE HSE yesterday admitted that they did not make it clear before Thursday that a dual review was taking place into Portlaoise breast services, blaming journalists and politicians for not asking specific questions about ultrasounds.

A spokeswoman in the south-east admitted they would have preferred that the breast cancer scandal had never entered the public domain until after Dr Ann O’Doherty had completed her report into the multiple misdiagnoses.

On Thursday, when news of the ultrasounds review broke at the Dáil Health Committee, the HSE said the public had already been informed that ultrasounds were being reviewed.

However, an examination of all their press releases since last August shows that in only one press statement did they mention ultrasound procedures.

All the other press releases referred to mammograms.

Their original press release in August, announcing the review at Portlaoise, said: “The HSE is performing a review of the practice of one consultant radiologist within the radiology breast service in the Midland Regional Hospital at Portlaoise”.

Neither mammograms nor ultrasounds were specified.

In a statement on September 3, they said: “St Vincent’s Hospital, in conjunction with Breast Check, will facilitate the review of all radiology breast diagnosis carried out in Midland Regional Hospital at Portlaoise since November 2003.

“Since 2003 about 3,000 mammograms and 2,500 breast ultrasounds have been carried out at the hospital.”

They did not specify that questions had been raised about the ultrasounds.

A mammogram is a low-dose X-ray that can detect early signs of breast cancer.

An ultrasound is a scan that produces images of the breast via sound waves.

Ultrasounds are often used to test for breast cancer on women, aged under 40, as they tend to have denser breasts where use of a mammography is not best suited.

The women who had ultrasounds at Portlaoise are all separate people to those who had questions raised about their mammograms.

Yesterday, HSE spokeswoman in the South-East, Annette Fitzpatrick, said that they had never tried to hide information.

“Perhaps we could have spelt it out better. We were asked questions, but ultrasounds were never mentioned.

“The reviews were running concurrently and our intention was never to drip feed information.

“There were questions in the media and we responded to those questions we were given,” she said.

“Ideally, we would have waited until the end of the review if nothing had been said to the media.”

Ms Fitzpatrick said that the review of “mammograms” was the HSE’s top priority.

“Mammograms were the key priority with us.

“They also took the spotlight and the focus of questions,” Ms Fitzpatrick said.

“Perhaps in retrospect, we should have made the issues of the ultrasounds more clear.”