12,000 Overdue Smear Tests is alarming and obscene

The revelation that there are around 12,000 women who are overdue smear tests is alarming and obscene.

While the Government seeks to somehow present what they are doing now to address this as “good news” it needs to be understood that this number amounts to almost a third of our estimated population.

Even considering that a proportion of that number will relate to women who no longer live in Gibraltar and need to be ruled out of the programme demonstrates what we have been saying for some time, that the GHA’s electronic record keeping system has needed updating for years and it is clearly, and very seriously, impacting upon screening programmes; the cervical screening programme can’t be the only area affected by this. Can the system that has been put in place cope with a, potential, sudden influx?

Given that 15 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer since 2021, it begs the question-how many more cases of undetected cervical cancer are we going to be seeing in the coming years because of the obvious failings in the screening programme in recent years?

The further alarming feature is that the GSD previously raised its concerns with the deficiencies in the GHA’s cervical screening programme in July 2021, as a result of a large number of reports received from worried members of the public, frustrated with the service. The then Minister for Health said that, of the
appointments for cervical screening which had to be rescheduled, there were 359 remaining which it was
hoped would be seen within the following 3 months. So why then has the situation so obviously worsened
in 2025?

The Shadow Minister for Health, Joelle Ladislaus MP said: “Considering that early detection saves lives, too little has been done in the past 4 years to ensure that women are receiving regular cervical screening. The Government has been well aware of the shortcomings in the GHA’s cervical screening programme for several years now. There are clearly systemic failings which must now be resolved swiftly and effectively.”