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HEALTH MINISTER SIMON HARRIS has agreed to fund a new patient advocacy service to assist those affected by the CervicalCheck scandal.
Vicky Phelan and Stephen Teap called for an independent patient advocacy group to be established to help the women and families impacted by the controversy.
Phelan, the terminally ill mother-of-two who brought the CervicalCheck controversy into the public domain, told the Sunday Independent at the weekend that an independent advocacy service is “essential” for all those harmed by the health service.
“There was nowhere for us to go. We had to set up all of this ourselves. The only people who had contact details for all of the women and families affected by this are the HSE, the very organisation we can’t trust,” said Phelan.
Stephen Teap, whose wife Irene died of cervical cancer last year after two misread smear tests, is also calling for the group to be established.
The Marie Keating Foundation, the Irish Cancer Society and the Irish Patients Association (IPA) are supporting the call.
Medical files
Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald raised the issue with the minister in the Dáil today, stating that women are still being forced through the courts to access their medical files.
“The essential review of 3,000 cervical smear slides has not begun. The final report of the scoping investigation being conducted by Dr Gabriel Scally is delayed and women are having terrible difficulty accessing the €2,000 payment that you announced,” she said.
Harris said that anyone having difficulty receiving the payment, committed by government a number of weeks ago, should get in contact with his office.
“It strikes me as a bare minimum and a very practical idea. Will the Taoiseach make the funding and resources available so this advocacy resource can be afforded to the women and their families?” said McDonald.
The minister said the government is “directly interacting” with people who have been affected by the CervicalCheck scandal. He said a special steering group, which meets every Thursday, has two patient advocates sitting on it. However, he said made a commitment to fund the new group, stating:
“We will indeed fund that advocacy service and we have conveyed that to some of the advocates involved.”
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The Sikh’s delivering aid….great people.
This is a glimpse of what’s to come after Britain voted to leave the EU. They wanted boarders & separation… then they got to deal with the consequences! Be careful what you vote for, you might get it!
God Damn British Immigrants
…UK better get used to this: the days of fast passage are over..
There’s a lot more ports on the south/south-east coasts – and the Tunnel.
karma is a bitch…
Karma is a kameleon…
What do they expect! This is a glimpse of what’s to come after Britain voted to leave the EU. They wanted boarders & separation… then they got to deal with the consequences! Be careful what you vote for, you might get it!
Many think this French slowdown is because of the UK’s decision to leave the EU – payback…
The French are being childish and petulant about the British making a decision they don’t agree with?
Stevie Wonder saw that one coming.
That’s just superstition
Writing on the wall
Blame, blame, blame…..but not a word about the lack of police and border staff in France and in England being due to cuts in staffing due to the neoliberal policies pursued by both governments in recent years. The beneficiaries are of course the city of London financial services parasites who have their private jets….no worries there then. How long before police and customs people are on zero hours contracts??
This is not caused by cuts – but by the French reaction to Brexit. Thejournal showed the negative feelings here, also.
@mmz
Is that you Wally?
Went from UK to France a few weeks ago and noone checked my boot.
Get used to it Britain. This is what you voted for, you 52%
Shocking levels of incompetence on both sides in the failure to have adequate staffing levels after brexit Nightmare scenario for poor families with kids especially and people with medical issues
Opening gambit of brexit negotiations by EU.
“People were very, very frustrated and pulling their hair out.’
It would the average Sikh about 50 years to pull his hair out.
Now can they tell us if they found anything at all. France are always holding us to ransom
The terrorist are winning
Again, once the tourists get caught up in a queue there is uproar, freight traffic goes through this every week, the ports of Dover and Calais are not fit for use, hasn’t been for a long time, the delays we have to endure are crazy but no one gives a damn
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