A further 19 women who had breast cancer scans at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise and who were given the all clear, will find out this week if they were correctly diagnosed.
The disclosure was made yesterday by the chief executive of the Health Service Executive (HSE), Prof Brendan Drumm, just days after it emerged that seven women who attended the hospital for breast cancer screening since November 2003 were given the all-clear when in fact they had breast cancer. The HSE has now apologised to the women for the delay in their diagnosis.
The delay was discovered during a review of 3,000 mammograms at the hospital following the raising of concerns about the manner in which a consultant radiologist at the hospital was reading the scans. The consultant has been sent on leave.
Prof Drumm said more than 40 women had been called back for detailed review and "there are still 19 of those to be finalised" so the figure of seven misdiagnosed patients "could change".
Margaret Murray (47), from Tullamore, who had a mammogram and a biopsy at Portlaoise hospital after finding a lump on her breast in August 2005, is one of the women who has to undergo further tests this week. She said she was very worried. "Even at this stage I'm planning my funeral and I'm planning on writing my last letters to my kids," she said.
Prof Drumm said the fact that seven women were misdiagnosed was "an appalling experience" for the women concerned.
But he said the HSE had been trying to put better systems in place to prevent the chances of mistakes like this occurring but faced major resistance.
"The irony here is that the system that operates in Portlaoise is one that we've inherited and have tried to change against major resistance from the public and many other interests . . . the system in Portlaoise is totally unfair to the women who have used it, it's even unfair to the doctors who are actually asked to provide it but it's been defended by marches on the street, by local people and indeed by practitioners," he told RTÉ's This Weekprogramme.
His comments were sharply criticised by Laois Fine Gael TD Charlie Flanagan who said there hadn't been a protest about breast cancer services in Portlaoise since 1999, several years before the HSE was formed.
"To suggest that obstacles by the public were placed in his way is a nonsense," he said.
He added that it was lamentable Prof Drumm seemed to be washing his own and the hands of the HSE of the problem.
Meanwhile, the HSE announced the setting up of a helpline at Portlaoise hospital on Friday for any woman with concerns. But a caller to the helpline on 1800 252 041 on Saturday, only got an answering machine.
A HSE spokeswoman said anyone who left messages had their calls returned. She said the helpline was manned on Saturday and again yesterday until 2pm. It will be manned today from 8am to 5pm.
Furthermore she said all those who had their mammograms reviewed would be written to in due course. A report of the review, led by Dr Anne O'Doherty, a consultant radiologist, is due to be completed by the end of this month.
Prof Drumm said the HSE was in the midst of a major transformation of cancer services which are to be centralised at eight centres of excellence, where tests will be double checked, something that wouldn't have happened in Portlaoise.
"What I want to assure people, and especially the likes of the women in Portlaoise who have been affected by this tragedy, is we are focused on the change that will see that this won't happen if at all possible going forward. That's what's important. Not people with vested interests thinking we've lost the plot," he said.