CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Mecklenburg County manager Dena Diorio held a news conference at 1 p.m. Friday that addressed the next steps that will be taken after the Health Department failed to notify 185 women about abnormal Pap smear test results.
The news about the failure became public Tuesday at the Mecklenburg County Commission meeting, but Diorio said clinic workers discovered the problems in mid-December.
"I’m disappointed this happened. This is not the way we want to run any county service," Diorio said during the news conference.
[RELATED: Director: 4 no longer with health dept. after Pap smear results never sent]
Mecklenburg County health director Marcus Plescia said a doctor noticed a patient who should have had a follow-up but didn’t have one and wondered why. It led administrators to look at the nurse who was responsible for notifying patients and the nurse’s supervisors.
It was determined that the nurse had not been notifying patients from May through December 2016.
"We had an employee who was basically not doing their job, and we had a supervisor of that employee who was not doing their job," Diorio said.
There were 110 patients who needed a repeat test within a year, and 75 who needed a referral for a colposcopy, a special test that looks for signs of disease, including cancer.
Four employees no longer have jobs, and health officials have tracked down all but 20 of the women who never got their tests back.
Mecklenburg county manager says her concern is notifying all women impacted by abnormal Pap tests. Says 90% have been pic.twitter.com/fxhVoQHUjO
— Greg Suskin (@GSuskinWSOC9) February 24, 2017
County leaders said they are going door to door trying to do that, and on Friday they announced changes coming to the health department.
From now on, all women who have Pap tests will get results in 30 days or fewer.
New reporting processes will track cases.
The county will hire a medical assistant for follow-up with patients, a full-time case management nurse to oversee tests and a clinic manager to oversee the whole operation.
The county said it will contract with a consultant to look for other problems or issues.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services issued this statement on the failure:
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Public Health is aware of this situation and has been in communication with Mecklenburg County Health Department. State health officials will review and assist with corrective action plans developed by the county health department.
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