Alison O'Connor: We must not let fear of litigation halt future screening programmes

These programmes are not infallible, but they are still hugely valuable

Gabriel Scally stated: ‘Women can have confidence in and should take full advantage of the cervical screening programme.’ Picture: Sam Boal

A Government establishes health screening services to protect its citizens on a population-wide basis. Despite being screened, some citizens still get cancer. They blame the State. They seek large amounts of compensation. Now the very existence of those programmes comes under threat, and the State thinks twice about setting up new ones. It’s a cautionary tale.

This week, Gabriel Scally finally signed off on his examination of CervicalCheck, saying there is now a screening service that women can trust, that has improved substantially. The many recommendations he made in his 2018 report have been substantially completed.