Harris denies displaying 'lack of empathy' with women impacted by CervicalCheck scandal

Health Minister Simon Harris has denied he displayed “a lack of empathy” with the women impacted by the CervicalCheck scandal who recently learned that they had received incorrect results.

On Wednesday, patient advocate Stephen Teap had accused the Minister of “a lack of empathy” following a review of more than 1,000 slides carried out by the UK Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) which highlighted 308 different results to the screening programme.

The report said 159 of those different results led to missed opportunities to prevent cancer or diagnose it at an earlier stage.

Mr Harris told Newstalk Breakfast that the experiences of women impacted by the CervicalCheck scandal will stay with him for the rest of his life.

Some of the women impacted have become his friends in the months since the scandal broke, he said.

"I have sat in rooms with women impacted for four, five, six hours over a long period of time. I know their stories; I know many of them, I consider some of them friends.”

Mr Harris said he has two things to consider when discussing the scandal.

One of my jobs is to make sure that those people who were adversely impacted by an awful debacle – I need to make sure that those people are supported, protected and looked after.

“But I also have another job and that is a very important job too. The responsibility to every single person listening to this programme – every single person in this country – to support our screening programme.”

He said that while the RCGO report “showed the devastating impacts of the limitations of screening” it also found that the CervicalCheck screening programme is working effectively.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil’s health spokesperson Stephen Donnelly has criticised the “massive lottery postcode” when it comes to children’s health services.

He was responding to figures he received through parliamentary questions (PQs) which showed there are almost 215,000 children on waiting lists for health care services, with more than one in four waiting for longer than a year.

The figures indicate huge variations depending on where the children live. Mr Donnelly told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that there is a correlation between more affluent areas and lower waiting lists.The figures are “a dark stain on the country,” he said.

According to the replies to the PQs there are 90,000 children waiting for community health care services. This includes 19,000 children waiting for speech and language therapy.

The figures show that 2,000 of these have been waiting for longer than a year and 300 more than two years.Waiting lists in North Dublin are the highest in the country, with 2,400 children awaiting speech and language therapy.

This compares to just ten children on a waiting list for speech and language therapy in Dún Laoghaire and none in Dublin South East.

Mr Donnelly pointed out that 30 radiographers had been approved for Temple Street Hospital, but that only 19 had been hired.

“The funding is there, but they cannot hire the extra 11 needed. Children cannot be allowed to wait like this," he said.