Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 62: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if her attention has been drawn to the negative effect that recent changes to the CervicalCheck screening programme are having on women's access to the service; if her further attention has been drawn to the fact that these changes are at complete variance to the original purpose of the programme and only serve to control demand by limiting supply; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45588/09]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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CervicalCheck commenced on 1 September 2008. Under the Programme women aged 25 - 44 will be screened every 3 years and women aged 45 - 60 will be screened every 5 years. For the first year CervicalCheck operated on an open access system of screening to ensure that the initial expected interest from women could be effectively accommodated. It was always intended that CervicalCheck would move to population-based organised screening in line with best international practice. Accordingly, on completion of its first year in operation in September 2009, the Programme changed to an organised call, re-call system of invitation. This change will ensure that an effective and efficient population approach to screening that maximises target population coverage is maintained.

CervicalCheck has proven very successful during its first year of operation with unprecedented numbers of women attending for screening. CervicalCheck has a national register of women aged 25 to 60. Over each screening round, all eligible women aged 25 to 60 will be invited for screening. The system will ensure that the delivery of population screening is spread evenly over the three to five year screening cycle.

The criteria for eligibility under the Programme are clearly set out on the CervicalCheck website. Any woman who has not had a smear test in the last three years can fast-track into the Programme simply by registering online, by completing and returning a form by Freepost, or by calling CervicalCheck on Freephone1800 45 45 55 to request an invitation. Currently the average waiting time for such an invitation is three weeks. Certain women are eligible for a free smear test without a CervicalCheck invitation letter. These include women aged over 60 who have never had a smear test and women of any age post colposcopy. CervicalCheck will process a woman's smear test without a letter of invitation, if it is the opinion of her smeartaker that she is at risk of not responding to a CervicalCheck invitation letter, or unlikely to avail of the fast track opt-in facility that is available to her.

Since the introduction of the call-recall system around 30,000 fast-track opt-in letters have been issued in addition to over 95,000 randomly generated invitation letters.