Wexford General Hospital. Pic: Jim Campbell
AN EXTERNAL expert is to examine bowel cancer screening practices at Wexford General Hospital after a review published recently indicated one consultant was responsible for 13 cases of ‘probable missed’ cancer at the hospital in 2013 and 2014.
The matter has been referred to the Medical Council.
The clinician involved, who has undertaken to no longer perform colonoscopies, is reportedly still being paid while on administrative leave and is currently entangled in a complex human resources process with the HSE.
He does not accept the review’s findings.
Speaking on national radio on the day the report was published, Health Minister Simon Harris said it was his priority to make sure such an incident “never happens again.”
He couldn’t begin, he said, “to imagine how upsetting, worried and indeed angry this must make people feel… this is devastating news for people who for all intents and purposes thought they were well, had been told they were well by a medical professional.”
Bowelscreen lead at Wexford General Hospital, Ken Mealy, said that there had been defects in the governance structure and in the practices carried out but that the onus in the first place lay with the individual consultant involved.
“We have clearly put our hands up and apologised to these families at the earliest onset… we are sincerely apologetic for what has happened.
“We pride ourselves in the hospital at trying to provide the highest quality of services for our patients and when we fail, I’d like to think we identify these issues as best we can and deal with them but also apologise,” Mr. Mealy said.
Machines in use at Wexford General Hospital are not believed to have been at fault in this matter, but rather the probable missed cancers have been attributed to human error.
Mr. Mealy was keen to offer his reassurances to people in Wexford and across the country in relation to the Bowelscreen programme.
Measures, he said, had been put in place at the hospital to ensure such a scenario does not arise again in future.
Anyone wishing to obtain further information on the BowelScreen service may contact freephone 1800 45 45 55.
Read more in the Wexford Echo.