Around 200 women will have to go for a repeat smear test because their results have gone out of date.
The HSE says they expired because of covid restrictions.
That was coupled with a huge demand for the CervicalCheck service.
These 200 smear tests detected HPV so they should have gone for further examination to check if there were any precancerous cells present.
However, they expired before this could be done so the women affected will have to be retested as a result.
This clearly should not have happened. Time & again I called for more capacity for cancer screening services. As catch up screening commenced capacity was always going to be an issue. 200 women's samples not sent on for cytology examination is unacceptable https://t.co/2Vp5mECrXO
— David Cullinane T.D. (@davidcullinane) July 19, 2021
The HSE says they went out of date because of a delay in the CervicalCheck processing centre in Santry in Dublin due to covid restrictions and an unprecedented number of samples in the first half of this year.
Around 200 thousand tests have been carried out
The HSE says it’s important to note that cervical cancer is a rare outcome of a HPV infection and the women affected will be prioritised.
It has apologised for any inconvenience and worries this delay may have caused.
Anyone concerned can ring the National Screening Service number on 1800 454 555.
