Government defends CUH laboratories

ALLEGATIONS of serious flaws in the laboratory system at Cork University Hospital (CUH) are “neither credible nor grounded in reality”, the Government insisted last night.

Junior health minister Jimmy Devins told the Dáil that three laboratories at CUH had achieved “a high level of clinical pathology and accreditation” and a fourth was awaiting accreditation.

He was responding to questions from Fine Gael TD Bernard Allen about the cancer misdiagnosis scare at the hospital.

The allegations were made by the Finnish pathologist at the centre of the misdiagnosis scare, Dr Antoine Geagea.

The pathologist, who was hired as a locum at CUH only to later resign, told the Irish Examiner yesterday the laboratory system at CUH was in dire need of reform.

The HSE has said it will respond in full to Dr Geagea’s claims only when the review of his work is complete.

It has been reported — though not confirmed — that 166 patient cases are under review with question marks over the findings of 15.

Mr Allen told the Dáil that Dr Geagea’s allegations about the flaws in the CUH lab system were “very disturbing”.

“This Finnish consultant has raised serious concerns about the systems in place for checking samples at CUH,” he said, citing the Irish Examiner report.

“With each passing day, it seems that there are more problems, more revelations and more inconsistencies. The one constant is a lack of accountability and a lack of answers from the Health Service Executive management, the department [of health] and the minister.”

Mr Allen said the hiring of Dr Geagea raised serious concerns about the recruitment of locums, given that questions had been raised about the doctor’s work in Finland.

“These developments raise serious questions about the structures, criteria and standards in place for the employment of locums.

“To my knowledge, the Health Service Executive and the minister have refused to give details of any background checks carried out on the Finnish doctor it hired, despite a finding of negligence against him in Finland.”