West Midlands Cervical Screening Programme

Agencies Involved in Cervical Screening

The cervical screening programme is very complicated and involves a large number of individuals and organisations. The main staff groups and organisations are noted below with their principal areas of responsibility:

1. GPs, practice nurses and family planning staff – cervical sample taking, counselling and advice about the screening programme and referral to hospital when necessary
2. Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) – training for cervical sample takers and monitoring of cervical screening activities in GP practices
3. Laboratory staff – analysis and reporting of cervical samples and tissue taken during treatment of the cervix
4. Colposcopy staff – investigation and treatment of women with abnormal cervical samples
5. Genito-urinary Medicine staff sometimes provide smear taking and occasionally investigation and treatment of women with abnormal cervical samples
6. Call and recall staff – co-ordination and provision of invitation and result letters
7. Public health staff – responsibility for the provision and quality of the cervical screening programme provided by groups of PCTs.