Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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128. To ask the Minister for Health the number of the 221 cases of false negatives given to women under the CervicalCheck screening programme by laboratory. [50771/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As has previously been advised to the Deputy, the HSE has advised that analysis is required in order to make the requested data available. Noting that the Deputy has requested, in effect, that the unanalysed data be provided, the interpretation of such data would not be clear. The requirement for analysis reflects the complexities involved. For example, some women may have had multiple smears, not necessarily read in the same lab; slides may have changed by one grade or multiple grades which is a complexity that would not be shown by a simple breakdown across labs; labs dealt with different regional populations; in the early years of the programme, it was dealing with an unscreened population which is a further complexity. Following significant efforts on the part of the HSE, appropriate expertise has been identified to ensure that the necessary analysis can be done and the HSE has advised that it expects the information sought by the Deputy to be available by the end of the year.