Department of Health officials say they have a “high level of confidence” that a fully functional National Cancer Screening Register (NCSR) will be ready by mid-January and that the first stage of the implementation, with limited functionality, will still be capable of supporting the introduction of the HPV-based cervical cancer screening program on December 1.

However, Pulse+IT's sources say the partially functioning register is too risky to proceed with and that pathology laboratories and jurisdictional health departments are concerned that the whole screening program is being placed in jeopardy.