Campaigners welcome appointment of independent Chair of CervicalCheck committee

Professor Anne Scott, Vice-President for Equality and Diversity at NUI Galway was appointed the Independent Chair of the CervicalCheck Steering Committee on Monday.

The appointment of an independent Chair of CervicalCheck Committee has been welcomed by the 221+ Patient Support Group.

Professor Anne Scott, Vice-President for Equality and Diversity at NUI Galway was appointed the Independent Chair of the CervicalCheck Steering Committee on Monday.

Announcing the appointment, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said: "Significant progress has been made in addressing the issues the Committee was established to manage originally in 2018, so I have asked Professor Scott, in consultation with the key stakeholders, to consider what the key terms of reference are for the next phase of the work.

“I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the members of the Committee since 2018 for the significant work completed to date and the vital role they have played in the policy response to the many issues that arose in relation to the CervicalCheck programme."

The CervicalCheck Steering Committee was established in June 2018 and has the remit to oversee the implementation of the recommendations of Dr Gabriel Scally’s September 2018 Scoping Report into the failings of the national cervical cancer screening services.

Campaigners in the 221+ group walked away from talks claiming they had not been listened to in November.

The group had asked that the tribunal be non-adversarial and had also raised concerns around the statute of limitations and believed women should be allowed return if their cancer comes back or their health significantly deteriorates.

To date, no women have come through the Tribunal system as it has been paused due to these ongoing issues.

A statement from the group welcomed the appointment of Prof Scott.

"We acknowledge and thank the response of the Government and Minister Donnelly in highlighting its importance with the appointment of an Independent Chair," they said.

"The restoration of public confidence in cervical screening will come from a combination of accepting the failings of the past and building a better resourced, better managed and better-governed system delivered with a commitment to provide the best service possible to women as defined by how it treats those most vulnerable and uncertain.

"Sadly, while we too want to move on, we remain unconvinced that the lessons of the past have been learnt.

"The planning for the future is being defined and spoken of exclusively in terms of the system and its needs, to the exclusion of the experience and the voice of the patient."

The group say this was "most starkly illustrated in the comments made by the Clinical Director of CervicalCheck last week at the Oireachtas Committee for Health and in subsequent media contributions".

CervicalCheck Clinical Director, Dr Nóirín Russell in a letter dated 6 November, to TD Peadar Tóibín, took issue with comments he made in the Dáil on 21 October, claiming that women may have been wronged by the system in the past.

The 221+ patient support group is deeply concerned by comments attributed to @russellnoirin at Oireachtas Health Committee this afternoon in respect of the future of the #CervicalCheck programme. 1/2

— 221+ (@221plus) December 9, 2020

Stating instead: "In fact they have been unfortunate in not being one of those to have cancer detected early".

221+ say "these comments fly in the face of what we understand to be the declared position of the HSE and of Government as to the missteps of the past, as set out by two Taoisigh in Dáil statements.

"In the context of those doubts, we welcome confirmation of Prof Scott’s appointment and we will be corresponding with her in the coming days to lay out our particular concerns and fears."