HSE boss O’Brien was told of CervicalCheck audit PR plan

HSE boss Tony O’Brien saw three memos as far back as early 2016 which confirmed a process was underway to tell women about their misdiagnosis and also to inform him a “communications protocol” was in place.

“A Communications protocol has been prepared for consulting clinicians to address their questions,” the memo said.

One memo from March 2016 outlined there “is always the risk that in communicating individual case reports to clinicians of an individual patient reacting by contacting the media if they feel that ‘screening did not diagnose my cancer’”.