The findings of an independent inquiry into the misdiagnosis of breast cancer patient Rebecca O'Malley, which were due out on Monday, will not now be published until January.
The Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), which conducted the inquiry, said yesterday new information had come to light in recent days which it needed to investigate before finalising its report.
The report had already been circulated in draft form to those named in it for their comments and the deadline for the receipt of their submissions is understood to have been yesterday. HIQA would not say how the new information came to its attention.
Dr Tracey Cooper, the authority's chief executive, said women should not be concerned by the delay. "We need to investigate this new information in the interest of assuring that all concerns are thoroughly addressed as part of the investigation.
"We appreciate the level of public interest in the findings of this investigation and ask for their continued patience."
It emerged in May that Mrs O'Malley, a mother of three from Co Tipperary, had her breast cancer diagnosis delayed for 14 months after an error was made in the laboratory at Cork University Hospital.