Harris: Keeping patient reps in the dark ‘regrettable’

Minister for Health Simon Harris has said it is “highly regrettable” that patient representatives were kept in the dark on the latest CervicalCheck controversy. The HSE has now ordered a review after 800 women were not given the results of their smear tests because of an IT glitch in a US lab.

The tests, which were sent to the Quest Diagnostics laboratory in Chantilly in Virginia, were carried out between October 1, 2018 and June 25 of this year and were mainly repeat HPV tests, however a small number of smears affected are outside this time period.