Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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450. To ask the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to preliminary findings from the review of cervical cancer slides by an organisation (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23384/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Following the Government decision on 8 May 2018, an Independent Clinical Expert Panel Review is being carried out by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) with expertise also sourced through the British Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology.

My Department is committed to continuing to support and facilitate RCOG and the HSE in progressing this review as expeditiously as possible, and to do so in a way that ensures quality, comprehensiveness and integrity of the results.

The review is examining the screening history of women who have consented to be included. Where the expert panel opinion of cytology results differs to the original results provided by CervicalCheck, the panel will endeavour to determine, wherever possible, any failures to prevent cancer or to intervene at an earlier stage and will prepare individual reports for those affected, setting out the facts and their expert and independent assessment of those facts. The review will also produce an aggregated report. The protocol for the International Clinical Expert Review led by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has been published on the Department of Health website.

All available slides (1,739) have now transferred to the review laboratories, the review is ongoing and results of the review are not yet available.