Australian women will have to wait another seven months for a new test said to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer by 30 per cent after the federal government bungled the rollout.
From May 1, the two-yearly pap test was supposed to be replaced by an improved five-yearly cervical screening test administered by one national register, along with the bowel cancer screening program.
It now won't be available until December 1, the federal health department concedes.
Measures have been put in place to ensure women can still have pap smears until then.
A Senate inquiry into the new register last year heard any delay in rolling it out would cause chaos because the pathology workforce would shrink from May 1 in preparation for the changes, meaning there wouldn't be enough people to read the results.
Australia's chief medical officer Professor Brendan Murphy insists states and territories will use existing state-based registers to maintain the program.
Pathology providers, whic were due to dramatically downsize from May 1 in response to the new regime, have agreed to continue testing in exchange for the government boosting the Medicare rebate for pap smears to $28.
The ThinPrep pap test, which women previously paid out of pocket for, will be added to Medicare, with taxpayers footing the $36 fee.
Prof Murphy says the new Medicare benefit for pathologists using the ThinPrep test will reduce workforce pressures the sector will face as a result of the delay, acknowledging the impost and disruption that's been caused.
The delay was revealed last week by a leaked health department communique, just hours after Health Minister Greg Hunt sought to reassure concerned Australians the test would improve women's health, after 70,000 people signed a petition calling for the new test to be scrapped.
Those who signed the petition were concerned about the move to test women once every five years instead of two, amid a lack of public information about the changes.
Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King has slammed Mr Hunt for remaining silent on the delay, insisting taxpayers will now foot the bill for the government's incompetence by paying for the new Medicare subsidies.
Taxpayers were already paying Telstra Health $220 million to construct a register that would be delivered late, after the government awarded it the contract against the advice of experts, she said.
"Labor consistently raised concerns about Australians' most sensitive health data being handed to Telstra - a for-profit company with no experience in this area," she said.
"Our fears that the government would stuff this up and put Australia's established cervical screening programs in jeopardy have proven sadly correct."
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has tried to blame the delay on Labor, insisting the opposition should have passed the legislation for the new register immediately.
But the legislation cleared parliament on October 13, two weeks before the October 30 deadline Telstra Health gave in order for it to have enough time to establish the new register.
