Te Pāti Māori Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer is demanding immediate action after a review revealed that almost one million cervical screening notifications were not sent to patients, raising fears that women may have missed life-saving tests and follow-up appointments.
The review has prompted widespread concern across the health sector, with questions now being asked about how long the notification failures continued, how many people missed screening opportunities, and whether delayed diagnoses have resulted in avoidable harm.
Ngarewa-Packer says the issue goes far beyond an administrative oversight, describing it as a potential patient safety failure with serious consequences for thousands of New Zealanders.
In a statement, she says every person affected by the notification failure must be contacted directly and offered immediate, free cervical screening, arguing that cancer prevention should never fail because the health system failed to notify patients.
The Te Pāti Māori co-leader is also calling on the Government to urgently disclose how long the notification system had been failing, how many people are now overdue for screening or follow-up appointments, whether diagnoses were delayed, and what impact the failures have had on Māori, who already experience significantly poorer cervical cancer outcomes than non-Māori.
The concerns come as a Ministry of Health review found that hundreds of thousands of reminder letters and notifications were never issued through the National Cervical Screening Programme, potentially leaving many eligible people unaware they were due for routine screening or further assessment. Health officials have launched an investigation into the failures while working to identify those affected.
The Cancer Society has also renewed its call for fully funded cervical screening, arguing that cost should never be a barrier to preventing one of the country’s most preventable cancers. The organisation says increasing participation rates is critical if New Zealand is to reduce cervical cancer incidence and improve survival outcomes, particularly among Māori and Pacific communities, where screening participation remains lower and cancer outcomes are worse.
Health experts have long warned that Māori continue to face significant inequities across cancer care, from access to screening through to diagnosis and treatment. Lower screening rates, combined with barriers to accessing primary healthcare, contribute to higher rates of advanced disease and poorer survival.
The latest revelations are expected to intensify scrutiny of the Government’s handling of preventive health services in the lead-up to the general election, with opposition parties likely to press ministers on accountability and the measures being taken to restore confidence in the screening programme.
For many advocates, the priority now is ensuring that every affected person is identified quickly, contacted directly, and given timely access to screening before further harm occurs.
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