MINISTER FOR Health Mary Harney and the chief executive of the Health Service Executive, Prof Brendan Drumm, are expected to come under strong attack over their handling of the Portlaoise cancer controversy when they appear before an Oireachtas committee today, write Martin Walland Harry McGee
Fine Gael and Labour were last night scathing of Ms Harney and Prof Drumm following publication of three reports into the controversy at the Midland Regional Hospital at Portlaoise, in which nine women were falsely given the all-clear for breast cancer following mammograms.
But Fine Gael spokesman on health Dr James Reilly and his Labour counterpart Jan O'Sullivan stopped short of calling for the resignation of either Ms Harney or Prof Drumm.
The reports strongly criticised the breast radiology service in Portlaoise as well as "systemic weaknesses of governance, management and communications" in how the executive dealt with the situation in the hospital. The executive suspended breast radiology services at Portlaoise last August, placed a consultant on administrative leave and established a review of breast radiological diagnoses after concerns were raised by nursing staff about the number of findings being referred for a second opinion which were eventually discovered to be negative.
In her review of mammography services at the hospital, Dr Ann O'Doherty said that the rate of false negatives recorded on aggregate fell within those found in other studies.
However, she found "clear evidence that the safety, quality and standard of many aspects of the breast imaging service at the hospital between November 2003 and August 2007 fell well below achievable best breast imaging practice and that this has resulted in a significant and avoidable delay in the diagnosis of breast cancer".
She criticised the quality of reports issued on mammography and breast ultrasound which she said lacked clarity and were difficult to interpret.
The report by former Dublin city manager John Fitzgerald on how the executive handled the controversy strongly criticised management of the organisation.
While it found that there was no "wilful neglect" by any individual, the report criticised a lack of "authoritative management" to control and monitor the process or reviewing services.
The consultant radiologist at the centre of the controversy, Dr Vias Moodley, was invited to return to work by the executive hours before the publication of the reports. She is expected to say today that she will return to the hospital as soon as possible but that she also wants answers in relation to how she was treated.
The Irish Hospital Consultants Association said that Dr Moodley had been subject to "widespread vilification" but that her reporting accuracy had actually been exceptionally high when compared to any similar reports.