The Minister for Health Simon Harris has announced that the 209 women whose cervical cancer diagnoses were delayed are to get “an immediate ex gratia payment of €2,000.
It comes as the Govt published the first findings of the Scally Inquiry into the CervicalCheck scandal.
Minister Harris said the Government has accepted the inquiry’s recommendations provided by Dr Gabriel Scally.
Mr Harris said “In total there are six important recommendations to support women and improve information available to users of the CervicalCheck service.
The six recommendations are:
- The provision of an immediate ex gratia payment of €2,000 to each woman involved and to the next of kin of the deceased, recognising that it is important that women do not encounter any financial obstacles to participating and making their voices heard in relation to both the Scoping Inquiry and any resulting Commission of Inquiry.
- That a process be commenced to hold structured conversations with each of the women affected by the CervicalCheck issues who wish to have their experience documented, and with the relevant surviving family members of any affected woman who has died, if they so wish.
- The provision of a more comprehensive guide to the CervicalCheck screening program online.
- That the information statements provided to women about the limitations of the tests should be more explicit about the possible reasons why screening might miss abnormalities that are present as these can result in the development of cervical cancer.
- That the information for women accompanying the consent form should guarantee that they will have full and open access to their cervical screening record on request.
- That the information for women accompanying the consent form should guarantee that should there be a problem or error of any significance with the screening or reporting process, open disclosure of all the details will take place in a timely, considerate and accurate manner.
The Health Minister said: “Following the approval of Government, I am making arrangements for the ex-gratia payment as recommended by Dr Scally.
“It would not be a bar to further payment in due course. I have also requested Dr Scally to identify arrangements that he could put in place as part of his inquiry to undertake the process of structured conversations.
“It should be noted that Dr Scally found that the provision of information to women in Ireland who take part in our screening service is comparable with that available elsewhere and in some respects, is better. He also found that the process of completing a consent form at the time of screening is a major strength of the Irish program.
“However, he does make a number of important recommendations to improve the information provided to women, including strengthening the statements on the limitations of screening.
“I will immediately ask the HSE to implement the four recommendations related to this.”