The HSE said the 33-week wait poses “a very low risk to women” when taking into account the "natural history" of the disease which normally takes 10 to 15 years to develop. In January, the HSE confirmed that 1,000 smear tests expired due to the CervicalCheck backlog, and that women affected need to be retested. However, the Government and Health Minister Simon Harris came under severe attack in the Dáil over the increased delays for women who had to be retested. MedLab treats patients and deals with women in rural Ireland, so women in all of those constituencies in rural Ireland wait much longer than other women. The increase was a result of the uptake of out of cycle smear tests and more women presenting to the programme, in the wake of the CervicalCheck scandal, when Mr Harris offered free repeat smears.

Source: Irish Examiner April 03, 2019 04:41 UTC