Colposcopy waiting lists an ‘outrage’

Press, 5 December 1988, Page 3

Colposcopy waiting lists an ‘outrage’

It is a public outrage that women who have had abnormal cervical smear tests are forced to wait up to seven months for a colposcopy, says the member of Parliament for Ashburton, Mrs Jenny Shipley.

She said yesterday that Christchurch Women’s Hospital had a list of 285 women awaiting colposcopy, an examination which helps in the early detection of cervical cancer. “The refusal of the Minister of Health, Mr Caygill, to urgently expand services for colposcopy is another ‘unfortunate experiment’ at the expense of women’s lives,” she said. Mrs Shipley said Mr Caygill was confusing the

issues of a national cervical cancer screening programme and the “catastrophically serious” prob : lem of women awaiting the examination. Her investigations showed there were the trained staff and the technology to solve the problems for women on waiting lists throughout the country. The problem \yas the Government’s failure to make enough funds available to meet the demand in the public sector. "I find the attitude of

the Minister alarming. He is putting these women at risk. They are trapped.” Mrs Shipley said that women who could afford to usually opted to have the colposcopy done in the private sector rather than wait. It was the need of those who could not afford to make such a choice that needed to be addressed. “These women must not be left to be part of another unfortunate experiment of inaction.”