HSE head apologises to Limerick woman for false smear test

HSE director general Tony O'Brien has personally apologised to Vicky Phelan, who is terminally ill with cancer, for a missed abnormality in a 2011 smear test and for the delay in telling her about it.

Mr O’Brien wrote to Ms Phelan on Friday offering “a sincere and heartfelt apology” on behalf of the HSE, the Cervical Check national screening programme that carried out the false test, and on his own personal behalf.

Ms Phelan, a 43-year-old mother of two from Annacotty in Co Limerick, settled a High Court action earlier this week against a US laboratory that analysed the smear test. She received a settlement of €2.5 million.

She only learned that a 2014 audit showed that the test was incorrect in September 2017, six years after the test was carried out.

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Her case against the HSE was struck out with no order.

“While this apology will never undo the harm and distress suffered by you it is important that I emphasise the sincerity with which it is offered,” said Mr O’Brien in his letter to her.

“I apologise to you for the failure to detect an abnormality in the original smear test that you underwent back in 2011. I also apologise to you for the failure to communicate in a timely and appropriate way the results of an audit that indicated a change in the interpretation of your original smear test.”

The HSE director general provided details to Ms Phelan of actions being taken in light of her high-profile case to improve processes in the Cervical Check national screening programme and “to avoid, in as much as is feasibly possible, a recurrence of the unacceptable sequence of events that you experienced.”

He told her that he met Minister for Health Simon Harris and also informed her about the review of the programme announced by Mr Harris on Thursday.

“I have directed that preparations to establish this review begin immediate. I intend this review to proceed as a matter of urgency and to be published and acted upon as soon as completed,” he wrote.

“I hope you will accept my apology and I wish you the very best with your ongoing treatment.”