No bed for cancer victim
The Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise, which is at the centre of a health service scandal over the misdiagnosis of a number of women who had cancer checks
Related Articles
A WOMAN diagnosed with breast cancer after being given the all-clear has had life-saving surgery cancelled because there was no bed available.
In a further, shocking insult to those hit by the breast cancer test scandal, the woman earlier this week had her mastectomy cancelled at 6pm the night before it was due to take place.
The woman, in her 50s, told the Irish Independent she now has to wait a further five days for the operation to be rescheduled at St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin and that she is still not guaranteed a bed even then.
The disturbing revelation highlighted the suffering endured by hundreds of women who have been left completely in the dark over whether or not they have breast cancer.
It came amid further damaging revelations which showed the level of chaos engulfing our cancer-care services.
As Health Minister Mary Harney desperately tried to get to grips with the cancer treatment fiasco, it was also revealed that:
l The 97 women who were identified as requiring further tests were forced to wait until yesterday evening to learn their cancer could have been missed, but by 9.30pm the HSE had failed to contact a number of them. New attempts to contact them will be made this morning.
l The HSE opted to contact the 364 women given the all-clear before those waiting anxiously for re-checks.
l Some of these were told the news in a message left on their answering machine.
l Another 107 ultrasound tests were still being reviewed.
l Women who contacted the HSE helpline were forced to leave a phone message and join a queue waiting for a cancer nurse to call them back.
l A special clinic -- headed by cancer surgeons from Dublin -- is being opened in Portlaoise at 9am today for the 97 women.
l Women in need of routine breast x-rays are being forced to wait until May 2009 to get an appointment in some parts of the country.
It emerged on Thursday that 97 women given the all-clear after undergoing ultrasounds at Portlaoise hospital were to be called back for review by a surgeon. They were part of a group of 568 women whose scans had to be re-checked, arising out of concerns about the standards of screening at the midlands hospital.
Botched
As the botched cancer test scandal widens, the Irish Independent can also reveal that the top HSE official who failed to tell Ms Harney and HSE chief Brendan Drumm about the 97 breast rechecks is to get a 9.5pc pay rise -- to bring his salary to over €200,000.
It has also emerged that half of the members of the Health Service Executive board have missed at least one in every five of their regular meetings -- just as Ms Harney asked the board to review the management of the cancer fiasco at Portlaoise at a meeting next week.
Despite taking home €17,500 a year for being on the board, some have missed up to a third of the 44 meetings for which attendance records are available since the HSE was founded in 2005.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Mary Harney spent last night holding meetings on the issue with health officials and HSE staff at her department headquarters in Hawkins House in Dublin.
Ms Harney, who has rejected calls to resign, will be relying on the support of all Fianna Fail backbenchers and independent TDs to survive a Dail motion of no-confidence tabled for next week.
The Labour Party tabled the motion in response to what it said was the most serious of situations.
Earlier, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny also upped the ante by calling for Ms Harney to resign over the crisis.
However, there were no indications last night of a weakening of support for her.
- Eilish O'Regan, Dara DeFaoite and Ciaran Byrne
