Medical scientists say outsourcing of cervical smears to US labs was short sighted
It was short sighted for cervical smear test analysis to be outsourced to the US, according to a group representing medical scientists.
They say it has limited the information they have access to when it comes to quality assurance for the tests.
It is after the recent CervicalCheck scandal during which it was revealed 209 women developed cervical cancer after getting false negative smear test results.
Dr Irene Regan from the Academy of Clinical Science and Laboratory Medicine told the Oireachtas Health Committee outsourcing the tests was short sighted.
"One consequence of this decision to outsource is that the Academy does not have access to information from these laboratories and therefore is not in a position to comment on the quality metrics or standards of individual laboratories at this time," said Dr Regan.
"However, should the Scally Scoping Report identify any sub-optimum performance within laboratories currently providing this service, a rigorous approach to remedying these issues will be required."
