Ireland's health service

Political point scoring is secondary here. You are overly sensitive to perceived criticism of the government. I think Fotf Kate Oā€™Connell has been very strong on this.
Increased take up of the HPV vaccine due to more awareness of the harsh realities of cervical cancer and a possible switch to HPV testing would more than make amends for very understandable loss in confidence in very worthwhile screening programme.

So explain the following actions of the HSE then mate:

Pause all letters, await advice of solicitors, decide on the order and volume of dispatch to mitigate any potential risks and continue to prepare reactive communications response for a media headline that ā€˜screening did not diagnose my cancerā€™.ā€

Why did Vicky Phelan get that payout if an average of 20% false negatives is the norm.
Were the women getting the smear tests informed that there was a 20% chance that an all clear would be incorrect.
Why were families of the deceased not informed of the false negatives.

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I think much of the criticism has been aimed at the HSE and Tony Oā€™Brien rather than the gov to be honest.

Your points about HPV and vaccines are reasonable and Iā€™d agree but that sort of nuance hasnā€™t been the typical reaction of national politicians in recent days. Even getting the head of Tony Oā€™Brien is such pointless symbolism and will have no effect on the culture of the organisation. I genuinely think half the country believes the HSE covered up cancer diagnoses thereby causing deaths. That belief came from somewhere ā€¦

Iā€™m not defending the HSE, health care in Ireland is a disaster in many cases and the HSE appears incapable of dealing with the enormity of the problems. Itā€™s a huge undertaking to get meaningful improvement.

I assume Vicky Phelan got the payout if the lab incorrectly read the test, most false positives are caused in sampling which doesnā€™t involve the lab. Incorrect readings happen, the process involves looking at up to half a million cells and looking for abnormalities in possibly a small number, itā€™s not trivial.

All women 21-65 should get regular smear tests, but if the perception is that screening will eliminate all cervical cancer, thatā€™s just incorrect. The important thing is that it catches most of it early enough that treatment has a 95% success rate.

I fully agree the communication here was dreadful and all women involved, or their families if they are deceased, should have been informed.

My understanding is that over 200 of these tests were read incorrectly by the lab, maybe Iā€™m wrong.

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Finian McGrath (Ind)
Tony McLoughlin (FG)
Catherine Murphy (Soc D)
Michael Healy-Rae (Ind)
Michael Fitzmaurice (Ind)
Robert Troy (FF)
Kathleen Funchion (SF)
Mattie McGrath (Ind)
Brendan Ryan (Labour)
Anne Ferris (Labour)
Martin Kenny (SF)
Clare Daly (Ind)
Roisin Shortall (Soc D)
Marc McSharry (FF)
John Browne (FF)
Sean Fleming (FF)

The list above is some of the politicians who have gradually undermined confidence in the HPV vaccine program, a key part of preventing cervical cancer, through anti-vaccine type questions in the DƔil.

A selection across all parties and Iā€™d be fairly sure it wouldnā€™t take much effort to find quotes from most of them scoring political points off the scandal of the last few weeks.

John crown said the human error rate worldwide in the test is approx 25 per 1000

Eh criminal proceedings surely?

This is killing people we are talking about.

Why is it not illegal to hide information that will kill someone or put them in serious danger? Itā€™s manslaughter no?
@artfoley ???

Just saw this having responded similar.

This is my feeling

Christ, can you not read the last 10 or so posts and educate yourself.

There was no hiding information that put women in danger or killed them that we know of. Of the 3 million tests that have been done on Irish women over the past decade, 1,400 women who previously tested negative have in later tests been found to have cancer cells and treated. Testing is typically done every three years. The test is not foolproof and a false negative rate of 20% is typical (where cancer cells are missed for a variety of reasons). A subset of women (208) who tested positive were found to have had false negative in the past when their prior tests were rechecked (after their cancer was discovered). The scandal is that they were not informed of these prior false negative tests.

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You do realise there is an option to go back to the last post from when you were last in a thread you fucking moron.

I read it as it came and commented as such.

The scandal is the cover up. As it always is in ireland

Would you not read a few more posts before making an ass of yourself?

Will you still be pursuing people for manslaughter now that youā€™ve read a couple more posts?

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Not for manslaughter maybe. But this should be jail able.

Iā€™m not taking the word of that clown either. Will read up more on it at weekend. If his decisions put lives in danger or he was part of a cover up or with holding info then he or others should be held accountable.

Wonā€™t happen but thatā€™s the only real way that so that soace corruption here.

Itā€™s as bad as ever and arguably getting worse

Well I woukd certainly listen to CB before you on such a matter

I got my young lad the hpv vaccine as well. The girls are free in the UK, but you have to get lads done privately.

How does ā€œfull accountabilityā€ work in an organisation like the HSE.
Could someone actually be named and sacked for their role in the debacle? I heard it mentioned yesterday that some people involved were ā€œno longer in their postsā€, but does that just mean they were bumped sideways to a different post and kept their same t&cā€™s?

leo, the sniveling, toadying cunt.

Again, Iā€™m trying to piece together what the actual issue is here.

Lady is told that following the screening there is no sign of cervical cancer. However she does have it but given the nature of screening some errors are to be accepted. She goes about her business and gets no treatment believing she is in the clear.

The HSE carries out an audit of her case and finds the false negative. How long after the original screen was this? Was it communicated to the lady that she on fact has cervical cancer and she needs to seek medical intervention immediately and potential increase her chances of staying alive? Or crucially was it a case that the audit was too late and they were a goner whether they were told or not about the false negative? Did the HSE review each ladyā€™s file on their system and said ā€˜Well sheā€™s dying anyway so there is no point telling them now about the ifalse negative but it wouldnā€™t make any difference?ā€™

And to briefly go back to the original screening, as has been alluded to already here, did the HSE clearly inform the ladies doing the smear of its high error rate? From reading what Emma had to say yesterday she was aghast that she took care of her health by getting a screening only to be told subsequently that she was dying from cancer despite receiving the ā€˜all clearā€™?

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Now I could be way off on this but I think I read somewhere that the only people that can be fired from the HSE are doctors and nurses. So, as an administrator you can be as incompetent as you like and there will be no repercussions.(Obviously can be fired for committing crimes).