Sinn Féin councillor Angela Donnelly has expressed concern at the lack of private cervical screening for women seeking testing outside of the national screening service timelines.
Donnelly said she was contacted by a constituent who tried to book a private smear test, but was told by her doctor that he does not perform private screening anymore as he “had no faith in the testing of the smears.”
Donnelly said that the woman was advised to contact a local Well Woman centre that advertised private screening, only to discover they didn’t carry out private screenings either.
“If a woman feels that something has changed and wishes to avail of a private screening for peace of mind, there are very few options available to them,” she said.
The issue was raised in the Dáil by local TD Paul Donnelly, who asked the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly why GPs have been refusing to carry out private cervical smear tests.
The reply from the Minister read “GPs are private practitioners, most of whom hold a contract(s) with the HSE for the provision of health services such as the GMS contract for the provision of GP services without charge to medical card and GP visit card patients. Services provided by GPs outside of relevant contractual terms are a matter of private contract between the GP and their patients.”
The response noted that National Screening Service has operational responsibility for Cervical Check, the national cervical screening programme, and stated that evidence around Cervical Check screening indicates that people between the ages of 25 to 65 with a cervix were best-placed to avail of the services.
All Cervical Check samples go to one of two quality-assured lab providers; Quest Diagnostics Inc in the United States and the National Cervical Screening Laboratory at The Coombe Hospital in Dublin.
It was outlined that the same standards applied to those centres are not applicable to private testing.
In response to this, councillor Donnelly claimed “patient-led health care does not appear to be a priority for this Minister” but that would change under a Sinn Féin Government.
“There has been a long history of institutional failure in dealing with women’s health care issues for which the current government must take responsibility. What is needed is a proactive approach on the part of the Minister. His failure to respond to the substance of the concerns raised by Paul Donnelly demonstrates yet again the failure of the current government to put women’s health front and centre in policymaking,” she said.