Smear test screening still outsourced to US, six years on

Cervical smears are still being sent for screening to a firm in the US six years after the HSE said the outsourcing would be short term.

Quest Diagnostics Inc in Texas was contracted temporarily to carry out screening to clear a backlog of 40,000 smears. After clearing the backlog within six months, Quest got a two-year deal in 2008, followed by a second two-year contract in 2010 and a four-year deal this year.

In the past four years, 1.3m smear tests have been processed. About 70 women die of cervical cancer in Ireland each year.