The inquiry was prompted by thousands of women having their smears misread by Gisborne pathologist Michael Bottrill in the years before 1996. Dozens developed cervical cancer and some women died.
Ms King said that of the inquiry's 46 recommendations -- which "do look easy on paper" -- 10 had been completed and 28 were under implementation.
"So we've started most of them."
Ms King said some of the recommendations had been held up by the Health (Screening Programmes) Amendment Bill now before Parliament and some were delayed by national ethics committees.
"But we can do a whole lot better."
The Health Ministry was "working through the issues" but she was unsure of the timeframe for final implementation.
Ms King said she had asked the Audit Office to look at the recommendations, and a quarterly independent evaluation by Otago University was continuing.
Dr McGoogan, an expert cytopathologist and senior lecturer in pathology at Edinburgh University, noted in her final report to the Government that most cervical smears were taken by general practitioners, yet they were not contracted at present to undertake screening.
Ms King said she accepted there was still work to be done to make the NCSP the best in the world.
"I'm pleased that (Dr McGoogan) noted that we've made considerable progress, that we've got all the elements of an effective and cohesive screening programme but obviously there are things we can improve," Ms King told NZPA.
Ms King said Dr McGoogan had acknowledged the difficulty in getting consents, from women and ethics committees, to be able to carry out the audit.
The insistence by women on the consent process and privacy in Dr McGoogan's view weakened the programme, Ms King said.
"Dr McGoogan is a strong advocate of access without informed consent by researchers and health professionals to an individual's health information and believes that an excessive concern with privacy issues can be harmful to health," she said.
However, when this was proposed in legislation currently before Parliament, there had been a backlash, the minister said.
Dr McGoogan also suggested the NCSP have access to a population register for inviting women for screening.
Ms King told NZPA the Ministry of Health was looking at this.
However, because New Zealand had a national health index it would probably not do this in the same way as Britain.
"We have well over 90 per cent enrolment already into the programme, much higher than the UK. We also have a higher participation than the UK.
"We're a much smaller country and the national health index probably for us is a better tool," Ms King said.
Ms King's response was appalling and she should resign, National Party health spokeswoman Lynda Scott said today.
"Annette King is telling New Zealand women she doesn't want a credible foolproof cervical screening programme," Dr Scott said.
"She agrees with the Ministry of Health, who have obviously dropped the programme as any sort of priority."
Their complacency was scandalous and was putting lives at risk, she said.
Predictably the ministry had attacked Dr McGoogan's report, she said.
Millions had been spent on the cervical screening programme and there were still no assurances it was safe, she said.
"If the minister continues to endorse the ministry's incompetence she should resign."
- NZPA
Euphemia McGoogan:
Report on the National Cervical Screening Programme and progress towards Implementation of the Gisborne Inquiry Recommendations
Herald Feature: Gisborne Cervical Screening Inquiry
Related links
