Health Minister Annette King says work is in progress on 36 of the 46 recommendations of the Gisborne Cervical Screening Inquiry Report, and another nine recommendations have been completed.

Mrs King today released the third monthly report updating progress on implementing the recommendations. "When the Inquiry report was released at a public meeting in Gisborne on April 10, I asked the Ministry of Health to provide monthly reports charting progress on implementing the recommendations."

Mrs King said progress had been made in a number of areas in the past month, including:

- From 1 July 2001 all district health boards (DHBs) and community laboratories were required to meet the National Cervical Screening Programme Policy and Quality Standards.

- A legal review of NCSP Policy and Quality Standards, Evaluation and Monitoring Plan, and Contract Agreements has commenced.

- Public submissions continue to be received in response to proposed law changes supporting the audit of the National Cervical Screening programme, meeting a key recommendation of the Inquiry Report.

- A project plan has been developed for the review of the Kaitiaki Regulations and work continues on scoping the process for review and consultation.

- The Cancer Audit project is progressing well and meeting key milestones. The project team is seeking a cancer epidemiology group from New Zealand or Australia to undertake the audit.

- The Workforce Development Project is meeting key milestones and a first draft of the Research Report has been submitted to the National Screening Unit for review. Discussions continue between Ministry Project Team members with screening and education providers, and information on the available workforce and current training has been gathered.

- Advertisements calling for nominations to the National Ethics Committee have been placed. The National Committee will provide guidance to ethics committees in line with recommendations from the Inquiry.

Mrs King said she was pleased the Ministry was continuing to make progress with implementing the recommendations, and she believed women could continue to feel confidence "that the lessons from Gisborne are being learned".

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