Harris needs to come clean on what he, his Dept and HSE knew about recent CervicalCheck scandal
Labour Party Health spokesperson Alan Kelly has said the latest CervicalCheck IT glitch, is another example of who knew what and when for Minister Simon Harris.
Deputy Kelly said:
“This weekend, I have spoken to Sharon who has brought this story into the public domain. I have also read all of her documentation around this issue. I want to thank her for her bravery and dogged determination in ensuring that women have been getting the right answers.
“From speaking to Sharon and others, it is evident that there are many inconsistencies in who knew what, and when from the Minister right through the Department of Health and the HSE.
“Concerns were raised with Minister Harris’ office in April, and there has been ongoing correspondence between Harris’ private office and Sharon. This correspondence continued through the month of June also.
“Minister Harris has said that he was only made aware of an issue on July 10th, but his own office, has known about this issue for over 3 months.
“The question needs to be asked if Minister Harris knew all along or if he was being kept in the dark by his own officials.
“Officials in the HSE now say they were aware of the situation of the IT glitch in June, yet they failed to tell CervicalCheck patient advocates of their knowledge of this situation at their monthly steering meeting. Why did the HSE remain silent on the issue, despite knowing the scale of the problem and why do they keep changing their timelines on what they knew and when they knew? Why did they treat the patient advocates with such disrespect?
“In relation to the Quest lab where the IT glitch occurred in Chantilly, is this one of the labs that Dr Scally or one of his team visited, or is this another lab that we didn’t know existed until this story broke?
“The HSE and the Department of Health have all changed their story on this issue a number of times since the story broke. We need to know who is accountable for this and who knew what.
“Minister Harris needs to address this issue immediately.”