Cervical Screening Histories Methodology Paper
 

September saw the publication of the West Midlands Cervical Screening Quality Assurance Reference Centre (WMQARC) cervical screening histories methodology paper in the Journal of Medical Screening

Why was the paper written?

It is a requirement for cervical screening quality assurance reference centres to obtain and review the cytology screening histories of all women who have been diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer. In accordance with national agreements, the information obtained must be passed, under strict confidentiality arrangements, to cancer registries and the NHS Cervical Screening Programme in order that national data can be compiled and the screening programme evaluated.

To be able to collect these data, there needs to be a clear coding system which is easy to understand and can be used consistently throughout the country. The screening history coding also needs to be compatible with the existing coding used by cancer registries, known as the national cancer minimum data set (NCDS). This allows the data to be used to create national information. Previously available systems did not fulfil both these functions and so a new system was developed by the West Midlands Cervical Screening QA Reference Centre.

Screening history categories…

NCDS categories WMQARC screening status categories Definition
Cancers detected by national screening programme Screen-detected Diagnosed after a routine smear that resulted in referral and diagnosis within six months of the smear
Screen-detected (but delay in diagnosis of > 6 months) Diagnosed after a routine smear that resulted in referral and diagnosis more than six months after the smear was taken
Interval cancers in patients screened by national screening programme Interval  
Other cancers Defaulter Lapsed Did not attend in response to her last invitation (which was early recall)
Did not attend in response to her last invitation (which was negative routine recall)
Non-attender Women eligible for screening at diagnosis but has never attended for a screening smear

Diagnosed before first invitation

Diagnosed before reaching eligible age for screening
Not eligible Woman was aged 65 or over at time of diagnosis
Not Known Not known Screening history not found

What next?

The next stage of the project is to complete the analysis of the information obtained from the classified cases. This will allow us to find out important information such as the most common screening histories of women diagnosed with cervical cancer and whether screening histories have changed over the time since the cervical screening programme started in 1988.

For further information please contact the Cervical Screening QA Reference Centre.