MEDIA RELEASE

Rt Hon Wyatt Creech

Minister of Health

23 September 1999

The three person Ministerial inquiry in to the Gisborne Cervical Screening case has been named.

Auckland Queen's Counsel Alisa Duffy will Chair the inquiry

The two other members are:

Professor Gordon Wright - Pathologist Queen Mary Laboratory Queensland. He is President of the Australian Society of Cytology and Chair of the Queensland Cancer Registry Advisory Committee.

Druis Barrett - former President of Maori Women's Welfare League. She has been appointed to represent the community's interests.

"The Ministerial inquiry will establish what led to the under-reporting, satisfy itself whether this was an isolated case and ensure all measures are in place to reduce any risks of a repeat of this Gisborne experience in future," Mr Creech said.

"The whole case has been very unsettling for those involved. The inquiry has an important job on its hands and will get to the bottom of how this under-reporting happened.

"I would again urge any Gisborne woman who has any doubts about their smear tests under Dr Bottrill to get another smear free of charge. This is the quickest way to get certainty about the status of their smears," Mr Creech said.

The Ministry of Health is currently working to complete the set up process. The team will have a number of its own service personnel along with support from the Ministry of Health.

ENDS

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