Fewer Women Than Ever Before Need Their Cervical Screening Test Repeated, UK

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine;  Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 29 Oct 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Fewer women than ever before are having to give a repeat cervical screening sample because the first proved inadequate; a new report from The NHS Information Centre shows today.

Less than 100,000 women had to have a repeat screening in 2007-08, with the rate of inadequate screening samples now at its lowest level ever (2.9 per cent).

The fall is largely attributable to the introduction of liquid based cytology (LBC) as a method of taking samples. Prior to the introduction of LBC, around 300,000 women a year had to have a repeat screening, with the rate of inadequate screening samples at around nine per cent.

However the percentage of eligible women screened at least once in the previous five years (coverage) fell to 78.6 per cent at 31 March 2008, compared to 79.2 per cent in 2007 and 82.5 per cent in 1998.

The report, Cervical Screening Programme, England, 2007-08, shows that for the target age range in 2007-08:

- The number of women invited rose by 4.3 per cent from the previous year to reach 4.18 million, the largest number of invitations since the introduction of the target age range.

- Coverage was 80 per cent or higher in 63 of the 152 primary care organisations (PCOs), compared to 71 PCOs in the previous year.

- The number of women screened rose by 1.7 per cent from the previous year to reach 3.22 million.

- Screening results were available for 60 per cent of women (of all ages screened) within four weeks, compared to 48 per cent for the previous year.

Tim Straughan, Chief Executive of the NHS Information Centre, said: "Our report shows improved cervical screening technology is continuing to reduce the total number of inadequate samples. Thousands fewer women have to have a repeat screening and suffer the anxiety this entails compared to previous years, while the swiftness of test results is also improving."

A full copy of the report is available at: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/cervscreen0708

The NHS Information Centre also published another report today; NHS Contraceptive Statistics, England 2007-08. A full copy of the report is available at: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/cervscreen0708

Notes

1. The NHS Information Centre (The NHS IC) is England's authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with more than 300 health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researcher, regulators and policymakers in their work. The NHS IC also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.

2. The NHS Cervical Screening Programme invites all women aged 25 to 64 for regular cervical screening, every three years for those aged 25 to 49 and every five years for those aged 50 to 64.

3. Regional information is available from this report.

4. Inadequate samples are those where the test has to be repeated as the first cannot be read due to blood or other material being present in the sample. The number of inadequate samples is higher than the number of women requiring a repeat screening, as some women will provide more than one inadequate sample.

5. Liquid based cytology (LBC) is a new way of preparing cervical samples for examination in the laboratory. The sample is collected in a similar way to the traditional pap smear, however rather than smearing the sample on to a microscope slide, a brush is used to collect cells and transfer them to preservative fluid. The sample is sent to the laboratory where it is spun and treated to remove obscuring material, for example mucus or pus and a random sample of the remaining cells is taken. A thin layer of cells is deposited onto a slide. The slide is then examined in the usual way under a microscope by a cytologist.

6. LBC was adopted in England in 2003 after the National Institute of Clinical Excellence recommended that the traditional pap smear test, which had been used by the NHS since 1989, should be replaced.

NHS Information Centre