The number of cervical cancer screenings is down by over 50% compared to last year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Screening services were paused in March due to the virus and resumed again in July.
CervicalCheck has told the Oireachtas Health Committee today that over 117,000 women in primary care had been screened up until the end of November.
The organisation's Clinical Director, Dr Noírín Russell, told committee members that this compared to around 46% of the women screened last year.
Dr Russell said extra capacity would have to be made available in cervical screening next year to deal with the backlog. She was responding to Sinn Féin's David Cullinane, who wanted to know how long it would take the service to catch up with the