CervicalCheck diagnosed and treated 162 women for cervical cancer in a year

Screening with CervicalCheck can help identify early signs of cancer.

Over the course of one year alone 162 women were diagnosed and treated for cervical cancer through CervicalCheck, a new report shows. 

The report, covering April 2022-March 2023, also shows that among 269,550 women screened some 11% had HPV - the virus responsible for almost all cervical cancer. These women are monitored so if cancer develops it can be treated early.

The report found that 75% of eligible women were tested, while the target is 80% and CervicalCheck clinical director Dr Noirin Russell is keen to see this 80% figure reached.

She has raised concerns about “women who are on the fence” about testing, saying they may not be aware of the benefits of regular testing. 

"If a woman is diagnosed with cancer after attending for screening, there’s an 80% chance she will be diagnosed with stage 1," she said.  This early stage can be more treatable.

“In Ireland today your chance of being diagnosed with a late stage cancer, so Stage 2 or above, if you get screened is one in 10,000. If you don’t get screened, it’s 10 times higher,” she said.

This is because screening can help identify early signs of cancer. “The incidence (of cervical cancer) has gone from 15 per 100,000 down to 10 per 100,000, that’s the proof the programme works,” she said.

She acknowledged “this terrible outcome that we see in the newspapers and we really all want to avoid - it’s one in 10,000 so that means it is someone”.  Dr Russell said she could not comment on individual cases.

Concerns around cervical cancer testing were back in the spotlight in June when Cork woman Leona Macken received an apology for failings in her care at the High Court.

Ms Macken, who has cervical cancer, sued over two tests, conducted in 2016 and 2020, which it was claimed were incorrectly reported as negative.

Sample checking is currently shared between Quest Diagnostics in America and the national laboratory in Dublin. Dr Russell said she is aware of calls to conduct checks only in Ireland.

Leona Macken (centre) and her husband Alan (right) settled their legal action against the HSE arising from what they said were failures in the CervicalCheck screening programme in 2016 and 2020. File photo: Collins Courts

“(the Irish laboratory) never did more than 10% until this year, and they are on target to get up to approximately 20% of the programme work,” she said.

However, she said that interval cancers – cervical cancer found between screening tests – and false negative results can happen in all systems. “That is not limited to a particular laboratory, that is going to be what we find in cancer cases,” she said.

She has worked with advocacy group 221 plus on reforms, saying: “They felt the programme didn’t really explain false negatives and that this is a possible outcome.”

She urged: “It’s really important that anyone with symptoms, even if they’ve had a normal screening test, have those symptoms investigated.” 

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Dr Russell has visited Quest Diagnostics, saying: “It’s done in a particular quarter of the laboratory, so it’s a completely different pathway of care. And they follow the Irish standards.” 

The scientists also do regular skills-tests where they check already-analysed samples and must match the results in 95% of cases. This is assessed by Quest and in Limerick by the National Cervical Screening Programme.

Dr Russell said: “There is an understanding in the cyto-screening community that you can’t ask your screeners to get 100% in the proficiency test. If they are getting 95% they are working at the most achievable human level there is but then there will be abnormalities that are missed.”