To ask the Minister of Health to outline his plans to address the waiting time for results of cervical screening tests in the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust.

Since primary HPV (human papillomavirus) testing was fully introduced into the cervical screening pathway on 11th December 2023 the turnaround time for the issuing of results has improved. The results of cervical screening samples which test negative for HPV are being issued to the woman’s GP within 2 weeks. Where screening samples test positive for HPV, cytology assessment is also carried out, so the issuing of results will take a few weeks longer.

For those women whose tests were taken prior to 11th December 2023, plans are now in place to clear the backlog and release results over the following weeks. It should be noted that the slides in the backlog had already been tested for HPV and those slides that tested positive were prioritised for cytology assessment.