Harris must publish email and advice about smear tests, says FF

The National Screening Service raised concerns about proposals to offer women free out-of-cycle smears on the day Minister for Health Simon Harris announced the plan.

The Department of Health has refused to publish an email which was sent from the NSS to the department and which detailed concerns around the impact of the decision.

It was sent following concerns raised by the then clinical director of CervicalCheck, Gráinne Flannelly.

Fianna Fáil is calling on Mr Harris to publish the email and all advice given to his department.

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Nearly 80,000 women are waiting up to 33 weeks to receive the results of their smear tests with the backlog emerging partly because of the decision to offer the free smear tests in the wake of the CervicalCheck controversy.

On April 28th, 2018, in the hours before the plan was announced, Ms Flannelly says she warned against offering the plan and expressed concern that labs would not be able to cope. It has also emerged that an email was sent from the National Screening Service further outlining concerns.

The Department of Health says the email was sent following the announcement about the free out-of-cycle smears. It set out concerns which related to uncertainty about costs, volume, impact on turnaround times, impact on perceptions of the programme’s accuracy, challenges with processing GP payments, and the potential difficulty in ceasing the arrangements in due course.

Freedom of information

The department refused to publish the email on foot of inquiries from The Irish Times on Thursday. A spokeswoman said its release was being considered under freedom of information laws.

Fianna Fáil health spokesman Stephen Donnelly said all the relevant documentation and advice should be published without delay.

He is looking for the screening service email to be released, as well relevant phone records and any other advice received by the department.

It is understood the Oireachtas Committee on Health will next week decide to request all such documentation from the department if it has not been released by that stage.

Mr Harris is also under pressure to correct the record of the Dáil after he said neither he nor his officials were warned not to proceed with the decision to offer the out-of-cycle smear tests to women.

Ms Flannelly told the Oireachtas Committee on Health, in a written submission, that in the hours before the decision was announced by Mr Harris on April 28th, 2018, she raised concerns that such a move would “fundamentally undermine the screening programme”.

Unnamed official

Shortly after lunchtime that day, she said, she passed on a number of serious concerns to a senior official in the Health Service Executive who then spoke to an unnamed official in the Department of Health. The department has refused to reveal the identity or position of this individual. The decision was made to proceed “in any case” shortly afterwards. At 5:13pm that evening, Mr Harris put a message on Twitter to say that free smear tests would be offered to concerned women.

Mr Harris has said that he was not informed of concerns before he made the decision to proceed with his plan. He has stood over his previously iterated position that he was not advised against the decision to offer a free smear test to every woman in the country.

He said it was “kind of bizarre” that people were suggesting that women went for repeat smear tests because of any decision he made.

“Women were going to their doctor to seek repeat smear tests to provide reassurance to themselves,” he said.