CervicalCheck refuses to show staff turnover
CervicalCheck has refused to reveal the number of staff who have resigned or taken stress leave in the wake of the smear test controversy, claiming it would not be in the public interest.
The understands that a significant number of staff working in the CervicalCheck head office in Limerick have been forced to go on leave due to stress, have transferred to other parts of the HSE, or have resigned, due the pressure they have been put under.
One CervicalCheck staff member said those working in the Limerick office had been subjected to vitriolic comments and abuse after the scandal broke, which has impacted on their health.
“It was so frustrating for us,” she said. “You would go out anywhere and you would be asked where you work, and I used to whisper ‘the HSE’ — and up to April 2018, I was so proud to be in CervicalCheck.
"Suddenly we were all whispering what we were working at.
“What really got to the staff was that the women were always at the forefront in what we did because we were all women, or predominately women, in the unit.”
The staff member told the that she is aware of at least five colleagues who have transferred, while another worker retired due to illness.
“We have had a big turnover in staff,” she said.
“We have a lot of new bosses in. It has settled down, but there was a period there in the last six to eight months where our bosses didn’t know what they were doing.
“We had layers and layers of people who were finding their feet.
Those of us in the Limerick office who were long-term staff members there — nobody was listening to what we were saying. It was very stressful for a while.
She added that some staff members who have left have been replaced, but said “everything moves very slowly in the public sector”.
Details relating to the number of staff working in clinical, technical, managerial, or support roles were sought under Freedom of Information by this paper.
However, the national screening service refused to release this information, stating that, “on balance, the public interest arguments in favour of non-release outweigh the public interest factors for release”.
While the HSE confirmed that there are currently 37 staff working in the main Limerick office as well as in Dublin, it said “it would not be appropriate to publish figures for sick leave, as it could risk compromising staff confidentiality”.
The chairman of the Oireachtas health committee, Independent TD and GP Michael Harty said: “I have concerns around staff, particularly in the Limerick office.”
“They were put under substantial pressure, and were subjected to verbal abuse over the phone and some people may have even called into the office.”
He said he is aware that some staff have taken leave as a direct result of the stress they were put under in the wake of the smear test scandal and the added pressure that came with the long delays in results when free repeat smears were offered to women.
It comes after it was revealed that all 15 of the doctors who oversee the running of CervicalCheck’s colposcopy services for women whose cases require further investigation following a smear test are considering resigning.
Patient advocate Lorraine Walsh, who resigned resigned from the CervicalCheck steering committee after voicing concern over a review into the controversy, said staff have “done nothing wrong, only all the good, they hurt too”.
