Misdiagnosis report ‘equally shocking’

A TIPPERARY woman whose delayed cancer diagnosis cost her a breast has warned that a report into the circumstances of her care contains shocking findings.

Rebecca O’Malley, aged 42, of Ballina, Co Tipperary, said the report, by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) “will be big” and will be “equally shocking” as the three reports published this week which drew damning conclusions about breast cancer care at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.

Ms O’Malley was critical of the three reports for failing to take into account the opinions of any of the women affected by the Portlaoise crisis which led to a review of more than 3,000 mammograms and 600 ultrasounds, and which found nine women had wrongly been given the all-clear for breast cancer. “It confirms the perception that the reports are more about the people running the health service than the patients they treat. Those in charge are not thinking about what the patients want out of this.”

In contrast, Ms O’Malley was interviewed by HIQA a number of times in relation to a report into the circumstances surrounding her care. In addition to Ms O’Malley’s case, the HIQA report examines the care of another 28 patients submitted by her consultant surgeon at Limerick Regional Hospital for re-assessment.

Ms O’Malley said HIQA had handled her report very professionally.

“I think it is a very, very good report and I think it is of a higher standard than the reports presented earlier this week,” she said. The Portlaoise reports were carried out at the behest of the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health.

In relation to the Portlaoise reports, Ms O’Malley said: “It seems to me that the real failures lay with management. There doesn’t seem to be any culture of accountability and no sense that anyone running the system has learnt from past mistakes. The same people who are management now were those who didn’t have the required skills in the first place,” she said.

Ms O’Malley’s report, originally due for publication in December, and then in February, has been held up for legal reasons. It is expected to be published by the end of March.

Ms O’Malley was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2006, 14 months after being given the all-clear.