Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important to remember why I took the decision, which was widely supported in this House, of offering people a repeat smear test. That is because one of the number one queries coming in on the helpline to CervicalCheck was women saying they had a smear test and they would like another one. It is also important to say I did not offer it without a GP consultation so the GP had to feel that as part of the reassurance process the woman would benefit from it.

I assure Deputy Lisa Chambers that it is not a resourcing issue in terms of a financial resource; whatever resource is required financially will be provided in budget 2019. I have made allocations for such resourcing. It is a capacity issue. There are conversations going on as we speak between the HSE, between Damien McCallion, the acting national director of CervicalCheck, and the laboratories to see what additional capacity can be put in place. I am optimistic that we will have additional capacity to reduce the time. Based on the medical advice available to me I am saying that while the wait is undesirable, in particular for women who are understandably concerned after all of the attention on this issue, the medical advice is that it is not necessarily dangerous and poses a very low risk to women. I need to say that as a reassurance to women.

The large majority of women whom Deputy Lisa Chambers says have been referred to colposcopy clinics are being dealt with in a speedy manner. A total of 89% of women who were referred to colposcopy, who were classified as having high-grade abnormal cells, received their appointments within four weeks and 92% who had low-grade abnormal cells received their appointments within eight weeks, which is above the national target. I accept there is a challenge here and it is one we are working our way through but it was a necessary step to try to reassure women.

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