By FRANCESCA MOLD
Health authorities are investigating a complaint about another New Zealand laboratory involved with screening cervical smear slides.
The name and location of the laboratory were suppressed during a special sitting of the cervical cancer inquiry in Gisborne on Saturday.
During cross-examination of a Health Funding Authority witness, Jim DuRose, it was revealed that a complaint about the laboratory had been laid by Antonia Fisher, one of the lawyers representing women affected by slide misreading.
Health Funding Authority lawyer Kim Murray asked for the suppression order, saying the complaint related to one woman and was being dealt with confidentially.
He said it would not be appropriate to release the name of the woman concerned or the laboratory involved.
Mr Murray said revealing the region where the laboratory was located would also lead to identification as there were very few labs reporting smear slides, usually only one in each area.
Mr DuRose said the Health Funding Authority had begun working on a protocol for dealing with the misreading of slides last week as a result of the latest complaint.
The fresh revelations about slide misreading came during evidence from Mr DuRose about a HFA review of 17 community laboratories.
Mr DuRose, a statistician, said figures sent to former Gisborne pathologist Dr Michael Bottrill in the early to mid-1990s showed he was reporting within "acceptable limits."
In response to questions, he agreed the statistics may have been misleading and encouraged Dr Bottrill not to make changes because they did not suggest any concerns about his work.
Those changes could have included pursuing Telarc accreditation or employing a laboratory worker specially trained in reading smear slides.
Mr DuRose said the review of community laboratories showed no serious concerns in terms of the health and wellbeing of women.
He said the review had identified a number of instances of smear results being inaccurately reported to the National Cervical Screening Register.
Those laboratories were now working with programme staff to ensure the errors did not happen again, he said.
Mr DuRose said all laboratories reading cervical smears have been registered with Telarc, also known as IANZ, and had participated in the Royal College of Pathologists' quality control programme since 1995.
The cervical cancer inquiry was scheduled to finish at the end of this week, although there have been suggestions of a possible extension because there are still about 20 witnesses to give evidence, including 10 women and Dr Bottrill.
More Herald stories from the Inquiry
Official website of the Inquiry
Second slide lab under scrutiny
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