Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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188. To ask the Minister for Health the time women in counties Cavan, Monaghan and Meath are waiting on smear test and CervicalCheck results to return to their general practitioners; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42678/19]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Significant progress has been made in reducing turnaround times for smear tests. Medlab Pathology, which reported a backlog of 55,000 smear tests in May 2019, completed the processing of these tests in August this year, having ceased accepting new tests from 1 May. This marks a welcome milestone for the programme. Two laboratories now provide services for CervicalCheck; the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital and Quest Diagnostics. 

As of 10 October, the HSE reported that average turnaround times for both the Coombe and Quest are now 6 weeks. The HSE reports that it hopes to sustain these average turnaround times going forward, which will ensure that women and their GPs get their results in a reasonable time period.  

In relation to the specific data requested, I have asked the HSE to respond directly to the Deputy.