Dr. Gabriel Scally:

That is a good point and it is worthwhile to reinforce that it is a good programme and that is has produced real results. The potential for it produce outstanding results is great. That is ironic because it is almost as a result of the attention that has been paid to it in recent years. I know from talking to the women and the affected families that they want it to be an excellent programme and they are totally committed to it. At some of the meetings, it has been interesting to see that if there is criticism of the programme, it is not about the principle of the programme or the general operation of same, it is about the way this particular issue was handled.

On international comparability, CervicalCheck stands up well. We looked at the quality assurances around the other screening programmes during the main report but we did so on a very superficial level. As the Deputy will appreciate, we got into far more problematic areas in the cervical screening programme than I could have ever imagined so that is where our concentration was. We did not find majorly problematic areas in the other programmes.

I am pleased that some of the changes the HSE has put in place have not just been around the cervical screening programme, but across the whole management of the programmes. It has brought in people who I am convinced will improve the situation, improve the management and improve the coherence of it.

I ask Dr. Denton to comment on this because she has a considerable amount of international experience and this issue of comparability is something that she and I discussed recently.