CervicalCheck laboratory rollout
Deputy Smith criticises the lack of progress on the national cervical screening laboratory and the continued use of testing abroad. The Tánaiste says services remain covered by an alternative lab and €20 million has been committed for the new facility.
I wish to raise another important issue related to women's health, namely CervicalCheck and the Scally report recommendation that a national cervical screening laboratory would be fully up and running by September of this year. The Tánaiste will understand the utter outrage and disgust of the women of Ireland and activists on CervicalCheck when the Minister could not give any update on when this national laboratory will be set up and operational. Furthermore, not one sample is currently being tested in Ireland at this time, despite the fact that the Coombe Women and Infant's University Hospital returned to full operational capacity in December 2021 following the cyberattack. While we do not have exact figures on delayed diagnoses of cancer, at a conservative estimate cancer diagnoses dropped by between 10% and 14% in 2020 and in 2021 only six in ten patients were referred, as against the HSE's own service plan target of 95%. I ask the Tánaiste to provide an update on when the laboratory will be up and running.
Comment on this
While the Coombe Women and Infant's University Hospital is not currently processing cervical screening samples for the CervicalCheck programme, current services are not affected as an alternative laboratory is able to provide testing for 100% of samples. CervicalCheck is currently up to date with invitations for screening and by the end of 2021, it had screened the same amount of people as in any other two year period, notwithstanding the cyberattack and the pandemic.
A sum of €20 million has been committed for the construction, fit-out and staffing of a new national cervical screening laboratory. The cyberattack in 2021 meant that the Coombe hospital lost IT connectivity with CervicalCheck and could not accept samples for testing. Prior to that, the Coombe hospital was processing about 10% of community samples. CervicalCheck has increased its capacity with the main provider of the testing programme and is currently meeting all testing standards and turnaround times. The Coombe hospital has recently restored its IT connectivity and it is envisaged that it will be in a position to recommence sample taking in the next few weeks.