RTÉ News has learned that the HSE settled a claim in the High Court by the family of a 75-year-old woman from the midlands.
The woman had not been told the results of her ultra-sound tests at Portlaoise General Hospital for nine months.
Her oncologist has confirmed that her tumour was visible in the tests, carried out in March 2005, but neither she nor her GP were given the results until December that year.
The woman died of colon cancer in June 2006.
After her death, her family continued the case taken by the woman against the HSE which settled the proceedings for €35,000, without admission of liability.
In a statement, the HSE says it acknowledges a settlement was made by the State Claims Agency on behalf of HSE.
The HSE says following the settlement a risk management review of the patient care was undertaken in the hospital.
The review team included all the key individuals who had been involved in the patient care including the patient's GP.
The statement says that as a result a revised standard operating procedure is now in place whereby the results are sent directly to the referring doctors and all verified results are now seen by the emergency medicine consultant.
