Chief Executive of the HSE Brendan Drumm said today he accepted that misdiagnosed breast cancer patient Rebecca O'Malley had been let down. However, he defended the quality of diagnostic work in cancer care.
Professor Brendan Drumm was in Cork for a speaking engagement, where he made his first public comment on the misdiagnosis of breast cancer patient Rebecca O'Malley from Tipperary.
On Wednesday, the Health Information and Quality Agency strongly criticised the HSE and two of its hospitals in Limerick and Cork for their handling of Rebecca O'Malley's case.
The report found that a pathologist had missed her cancer, resulting in a 14-month delay in the treatment of her illness.
The HSE apologised to Rebecca O'Malley and this evening its chief executive accepted that mistakes had been made.
Professor Drumm was speaking at the opening of a research centre in Cork which - for the first time - will collate and analyse information on every birth in Ireland.
With the birth rate in booming, this research centre could hardly have been opened at a more appropriate time. When this hospital opened last March, for instance, it was predicted that it would cater for 7,000 births in its first year. Instead it has seen 8,500 - an average of one baby born almost every hour for the past 12 months.
