A Portadown councillor – and mother of three children – revealed during a heated ABC Council meeting that she was herself one of the “Ladies with Letters” – the group of around 17,500 women in the Southern HSC Trust area whose cervical screening slides had to be rechecked – as councillors widely condemned the Health Minister’s decision to rule out a public inquiry into the failings in Northern Ireland’s cervical screening service.
Erin Harbinson from Tandragee and Lynsey Courtney from Portadown were often mentioned during the debate, as they tragically died as a result of several misread smear tests.
Feeling particularly strongly on the matter was Councillor Clare McConville-Walker (pictured), who revealed she was one of the Ladies with Letters – as the group of affected women is called – whose slides had to be rechecked.
The Sinn Féin representative for Portadown DEA told all gathered at the May 26 Council meeting: “I also received one of those letters. Thankfully, my review was clear, but my thoughts are with those ladies who have suffered, who have had to go through operations, families who have lost loved ones.
“The strength of the Harbinson and Courtney families is just absolutely unbelievable. In the midst of their own grief, they are campaigning for other women.
“It’s been referred to as a scandal, and that’s exactly what it is. And I think not having [a public inquiry] is also a missed opportunity to review women’s health services in the north.
“I do support the call for us to write as a council [to the Minister] to reconsider [his decision]. It is the only way to pave a better way forward to get justice for those people who have lost their lives.
“And the work that the Ladies with Letters group — I don’t even think people realise the hours and hours and commitment and the strain that those ladies have put on their own lives, on their own health in pursuit of standing up for other women and in asking for better. So, I can’t pay enough tribute to them.
“And I also think about those women who are part of that 17,000 + women who maybe haven’t attended meetings, who haven’t spoken out, who are quietly suffering at home because of all of this. I would urge them to come forward.
“But we need this review. It’s the only way to pave a way forward and to build our trust in the system.”
Councillor Julie Flaherty (UUP, Portadown DEA) was the first to speak on this issue, having brought up the matter under Any Other Business.
She commented: “I want to raise the issues surrounding cervical screening within the Southern Trust following the publication of the Sir Frank Atherton report.
“It’s very important we acknowledge the women at the centre of this. I am going to call it a tragedy. It’s a scandal, but it’s a tragedy, including those we know – knew -, Lynsey Courtney and Erin Harbinson.
“This issue has touched me personally. Family members and friends received the letters. I didn’t get one – someone was looking over me.
“They experienced the fear and the uncertainty that followed. I’ve lived some of it with them. Seeing that impact at close hand has reinforced how significant this has been, both emotionally and in terms of public confidence in our health system.
“I know there has been a deep disappointment — that’s an understatement — amongst many families and campaigners that a full public inquiry was not established.
“However, we all share a responsibility to ensure lessons are learned, transparency is strengthened and confidence is rebuilt. We need to have trust in the Trust.
“I ask that this issue be brought before the council’s Health working group, with an invitation extended to the Public Health Agency and the Southern Health and Social Care Trust.
“The purpose would not be to litigate the report itself, but rather to allow councillors the opportunity to better understand what improvements are now being implemented, what safeguards are being strengthened, and how confidence in the cervical screening services programme can be rebuilt across our communities.
“I believe the engagement will be constructive, transparent, and ultimately what we all want is a benefit for the public we all represent.”
Councillor Peter Lavery (Alliance, Lurgan DEA) believed that nothing short of a public enquiry would bring proper closure to the thousands of ladies affected by the failings in NI’s cervical screening service: “Like many others, I was both shocked and appalled by the recent decision of UUP Health Minister Mike Nesbitt not to commission a statutory public inquiry into the cervical screening scandal in the Southern HSC Trust.
“The explicit conclusion in Sir Frank Atherton’s report was that an inquiry would give greater assurance around full information disclosure and the truthfulness of testimony by individuals and organisations involved in this scandal. Yet, the Health Minister said no.
“I commend the continued campaigning of the Ladies with Letters group and endorse their conclusion that the Health Minister is failing to uncover the full truth. We cannot expect the thousands of women who were impacted just to draw a line under this and move on without proper closure.
“I request that this council writes to the Health Minister, calling on him to reverse his decision and commission a statutory public inquiry.
“Should Mike Nesbitt refuse, I would call on the UUP leadership to change who their nominee is for Health Minister, and replace him with another representative whose first act would be to commission a public inquiry. The ladies will not accept the current status quo.”
