Cash for cervical screening

The Health Ministry is to finance training positions for six laboratory graduates in the specialised area of cervical screening.

The funding, from next June, follows calls for improvements in cervical cell lab training by British screening expert Euphemia McGoogan.

Dr McGoogan, appointed by the Government to report on the implementation of the 2001 Gisborne Cervical Screening Inquiry's recommendations, said she had concerns about inadequate training in New Zealand.

The ministry said yesterday its clinical training agency would pay for the placement of six new Bachelor of Medical Laboratory Science graduates.

National Cervical Screening Programme manager Jane McEntee said there was a shortage of trained and experienced cytotechnologists.

Labs had relied on overseas recruitment, but the shortage was now worldwide.

Labs had not been willing to employ new graduates wanting to specialise in cytology because of cost and training time.

On Monday, Parliament's health committee decided evaluators of the screening programme did not need a woman's consent before accessing patient files.

But medical ethics specialists warned women may lose confidence in the health system if the Health (Screening Programmes) Amendment Bill, allowing access to their records without consent, is passed.

- NZPA