Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust fails to meet two-week smear test target

Nationally, there have been problems with delays and targets not being met since 2015

A hospital trust has failed to meet its two-week result target for smear test patients due to staff shortages.

Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust hoped to have cleared the backlog by the end of February after thousands of women had to wait up to 10 weeks for results.

The trust, which took over the service in April, said progress had been made and apologised for any "unnecessary anxiety and worry".

Nationally, there have been problems with targets not being met since 2015.

Laboratory screening services were transferred from five providers to a new facility on the New Cross Hospital site when the trust took over the service.

The service covers Stoke-on-Trent, Birmingham, Coventry, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

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Some services were transferred earlier than expected as well as the type of screening provided also changing, which led to some women facing a 12-week wait, the trust said.

In a statement, the trust said: "Our plan to achieve the backlog by the end of February has not been achieved due to staff shortages.

"We appreciate the unnecessary anxiety and worry this causes, and for that we can only apologise.

"We are still making good progress and staff are working hard to achieve the two-week turnaround target as soon as we can."