Plan for cervical cancer screening in Priceline pharmacies triggers GP backlash
A plan for HPV swabbing in pharmacies will put women at risk of unexpected bills and poor follow-up, a leading GP says.
Priceline announced earlier this month that some pharmacies would start offering HPV screening via self-collected swabs in November, with clinical support from doctors at telehealth company InstantScripts.
Wesfarmers Health — which owns Priceline and InstantScripts — did not answer AusDoc’s questions about the program, aside from saying it had been developed “with reference to the National Cervical Screening Program (NCSP) Quality Framework” and was “overseen by doctors”.
It was unclear what would happen to women with abnormal or unsatisfactory results, said Dr Lara Roeske, a GP and member of the NCSP’s Self-Collection Implementation Committee.
