Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 December 2018
378. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Minister for Health the advice he received on the point at which a smear test can no longer be read due to being left too long; and the number of weeks a smear test will last until it is read. [50467/18]
View answer380. Deputy Lisa Chambers asked the Minister for Health the steps he is taking to clear the backlog of women waiting for smear test results from CervicalCheck. [50469/18]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 378 and 380 together.
As the Deputy will be aware, CervicalCheck laboratory activity has been significantly above normal levels in recent months. This is a result both of out-of-cycle smears and increased uptake generally. This has impacted turnaround times for results of smear tests. Between May and October this year and when compared to the same period in the previous year, CervicalCheck recorded an increase of over 75,000 smear tests being carried out.
This has led to a backlog in the laboratories that carry out the analysis of each smear sample slide. It is unfortunate and regrettable that results are currently being reported on average around 20 weeks of the test being taken. In a small number of cases this may take longer. The HSE has apologised to patients affected and are doing everything possible to improve this situation as a priority.
Smear test samples must be sent to the laboratory and transferred onto slides within six weeks of the smear test date. After six weeks, the sample is deemed expired and cannot be processed. There is no requirement for cytology to be undertaken within a certain amount of time, once the sample has been transferred to a slide.The HSE has advised that the majority of smear test samples are now transferred to slides within the six week timeframe. By way of comparison, from April to October 2018 the rate of expired samples and vials was 0.29%. This compares with 0.25% for the same period in 2017.
There may be a small number of cases where the vial used to contain the sample expires before the laboratory has an opportunity to carry out the analysis of the sample and in some cases a sample may be insufficient. Although every effort is made to avoid these situations from happening, it is inevitable that cervical screening programmes will sometimes encounter these issues. In such cases, a woman and her GP are advised, by letter from CervicalCheck, of the need for a repeat test three months after the previous test.
