CervicalCheck scandal: Officials hide the truth on test delays

The benign, wear-the-green-jersey view of our health system is that it provides wonderful services despite limitations that could easily be resolved if more resources were made available.

That view, in the very broadest terms, is challenged on several fronts, especially by international surveys that conclude some of our health workers are amongst the best paid in the world and that as a State we spend more than the EU average on health services but achieve below-average outcomes.