Significant progress has been made in reducing turnaround times for smear tests. Medlab Pathology, which reported a backlog of 55,000 smear tests in May 2019, completed the processing of these tests in August this year, having ceased accepting new tests from 1 May. This marks a welcome milestone for the programme. Two laboratories now provide services for CervicalCheck; the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital and Quest Diagnostics.
As of 10 October, the HSE reported that average turnaround times for both the Coombe and Quest are now 6 weeks. The HSE reports that it hopes to sustain these average turnaround times going forward, which will ensure that women and their GPs get their results in a reasonable time period.
In relation to the specific data requested, I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy.