Ms Michele Tait:

Everything is being done in parallel. The implementation of Dr. Scally's report covers many areas across the HSE. Clearly the work that is being undertaken to clear the backlog is impacting on our ability to progress some of the recommendations in Dr. Scally's report. Everything is being managed in parallel. We have been able to make progress on many of the areas Dr. Scally examined and made recommendations on, despite the current backlog with some of the smear tests. There are many moving parts in all of this and everything is being done simultaneously, with teams of us working on different parts of it. There definitely is an impact but not across the whole of the implementation plan the Deputy will have seen recently. Dr. Scally spoke about the progress the HSE has made so far in delivering the implementation plan. Everything is being done in parallel and there are lots of moving parts in this. In some areas on which we want to move forward, particularly in developing the HPV screening programme, the impact of that, as Dr. Doherty noted, will be that we need to stabilise the programme and have the backlog significantly reduced. When we move to that part of Dr. Scally's plan in terms of what the screening services will look like in the future, that will be dependent on some of the issues that are causing the delays in the system being addressed.