Dozens of patients at a Drogheda hospital are to be informed that the grading of their pre-cancerous cells are to be recategorised. 

Three patients have already been invited to ‘open disclosure’ meetings at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, while dozens more are to receive letters. 

On Newstalk Breakfast, Irish Times journalist Martin Wall said the errors were uncovered during the course of an independent process. 

“Last evening, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda confirmed that over the course of a quality assurance process, it had looked at an independent look back at the pathology slides that were carried out across various disciplines in the hospital,” he explained. 

“This goes back to the February of last year and December last year. 

“It looked at the work of one consultant; the review is underway and it’s still continuing. 

“Separate to that, the Irish Times understands that as part of that process, that patients have been told and will be told [about] issues regarding the grading of pre-cancerous cells. 

“In essence, the issue of pre-cancerous cells is that they are biopsies essentially carried out, they’re assessed and are graded by a consultant - some are mild, some are moderate, some are more high grade.” 

“In essence, there have been issues apparently where patients were told that they had mild grading and that has essentially been upgraded to moderate or, in one case, high.” 

Additional meetings

Mr Wall continued that while three people have been asked to come in for meetings, others could well be invited at some point in the near future. 

“Several dozen patients are expected to receive letters,” he said. 

“They will not be called to meetings but they will receive letters to say the grading of their pre-cancerous cells given to them at the time this procedure was carried out, they have been altered. 

“Some of those will be upgraded, some will be downgraded - but they will be different. 

“So, several dozen patients at the hospital will receive those letters in the next little while.” 

In a statement, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital promised that “any patients in relation to whom any findings are relevant will be contacted directly by the hospital.” 

It added that, “HSE Dublin and North East has provided necessary information to the HSE in line with the National Patient Safety Briefing Protocol.”

Main image: Entrance to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. Picture by: Alamy.com.