Screening: The incidence of cervical cancer in Ireland is worsening and for the first time is higher than in Britain because of the failure to establish a national screening programme, an expert warned yesterday.
The chairman of the Irish Cancer Society's (ICS) recently established Action Group on cervical cancer was speaking as it emerged that 4,000 women in the North West are awaiting smear test results - the average waiting time is 20 weeks.
But Prof Walter Prendiville, consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Coombe Women's Hospital, Dublin, said that worrying as the waiting time was, it was "infinitely less important" than the lack of a nationwide screening programme.
He noted several expert committees had over the past 15 years urged the Government to establish such a programme. "There is no question but that our figures are worsening all the time while in the UK they are improving.Some years ago we overtook them and that is a direct result of our failure to establish a screening programme."
A screening programme was established on a pilot basis in the Mid-West region in October 2000 but has yet to be extended. There are an estimated 965 new cases of cervical cancer in Ireland a year and 60 fatalities.
Prof Prendiville said it was difficult to know why the Government had failed to act as cervical smears were capable of detecting pre-cancerous cells up to 10 years before cancer was present, and treatment was successful.
The ICS action group comprises experts in this area who are working on a policy document. "We hope to advise, support and help the Minister," Prof Prendiville said. It was crucial that all women within a certain age group be screened regularly.
North Western Health Board members were recently told that there are 4,000 women in the region awaiting smear test - average waiting time is 20 weeks.
A NWHB spokeswoman said it had conveyed its concern to the Department of Health and additional funding of £115,000 had been secured last year. "The waiting time has actually been reduced recently because of the appointment of extra personnel and because of a decision to send some tests to Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry," she said.
