The private laboratory at the centre of the smear testing controversy also carried out tests for a Dublin hospital. The Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, last night confirmed that Beaumont Hospital had engaged the lab in 1997 to carry out 160 smear tests.
But, he said, apart from the North-Western Health Board, the North-Eastern Health Board and Beaumont, "no other health board or hospital used the laboratory for cervical cytology".
Beaumont has begun an in-house review of all of these cases, and this would be completed within a week, Mr Cowen said. The NEHB, which referred 150 tests to Claymon Laboratories for examination, had arranged for a full recheck which would be completed within a week, he said.
The NEHB had originally said that more than 1,000 smear tests would have to be rechecked. In a statement yesterday it said that the number was now about 150. These were tests which had been originally carried out at the NEHB laboratories. However, abnormalities were present in some and because there was only one pathologist to examine them, additional pathology personnel were needed to examine the slides containing the test material.
"The board has been assured that the work was carried out by highly qualified pathologists and has no reason to believe that there were any inaccuracies in the report," an NEHB statement said.
The board said it was "likely that, where appropriate, any of these patients who require clinical care are already under treatment". However, it stressed, arrangements had been made for a full recheck with a UK laboratory of these tests.
Claymon Laboratories, in a statement, said it had written to the NWHB seeking access to information relating to the cases "to ensure that the board's own review was accurate".
Meanwhile, Mr Cowen said that it would be the end of 1999 before the pilot cervical screening programme would be established in the mid-western region. He told The Irish Times there was a problem finding laboratory personnel to carry out these tests and training took two years.
Mr Cowen said there was a problem that women most at risk from cervical cancer were not coming forward for smear testing. The test was not offered to women holding a medical card. He said this situation would change when the national screening programme was introduced and women would be offered free testing every five years.