Mr. Damien McCallion:

There are two factors. In some ways, unfortunately, it is simple. First, the demand is continuing to be slightly higher, although it has abated somewhat from the peak at which it would have been. Second, the capacity is constrained. Without going back over the earlier pieces, we are trying to source all possible capacity with existing providers - those who are currently working with the programme where it is much easier to, for want of a better phrase, connect them in. We are also looking outside. We have done a trawl of the market. We have also talked to other jurisdictions - Northern Ireland and Scotland - and we are in contact with some of the trusts in England which would operate this service to see what capacity is available. Unfortunately, it is not merely a simple plug-in for a new provider. There is quite a lot of work involved and there is a lead-in time to do that. We continue to have meetings - we have one this afternoon with a possible lead. We have looked in Europe, in France and Holland, where we have some possibilities.

It is difficult to get these over the line in increasing the capacity that is available to the programme which ultimately will help. The steps I outlined earlier are to try to mitigate that. The prioritisation of colposcopy where the laboratories would have excessive backlog, by running HPV first, effectively triages those who might have the greatest risk. We are trying to minimise the impact where possible.

I will not say it is easy. It is very challenging. Globally, we have this issue. Our own environment also probably presents challenges to some of those who are looking to work with us. However, we have leads that we are continuing to pursue.