Cervical Screening Programme - England, 2007-2008

At 31 March 2008:

• over the last ten years the percentage of eligible women who have been screened at least once in the previous 5 years (coverage) has fallen to 78.6 per cent compared with 79.2 per cent last year and 82.5 per cent in 1998
• coverage was 80 per cent or higher in 63 of the 152 Primary Care Organisations (PCOs), compared to 71 in the previous year.

2007-08

• prior to the introduction of new technology (liquid based cytology - LBC), rates of inadequate samples were over 9 per cent or about 300,000 women a year being screened again. As LBC has been rolled out across the country the rate has fallen every year and is now at a record low of under 3 per cent or less than 100,000 women. (Note, these numbers will include some women who will need more than one repeat test)
• laboratories examined 3.6 million samples (for women of all ages), about 1 per cent fewer than in 2006-07. This is partly due to the fall in inadequate samples as LBC continues to roll out
• the number of women invited (25-64) has risen from 4.01 to 4.18 million in the last year, an increase of 4.3 per cent, the largest number of invitations since the introduction of the 25 to 64 target age range
• the number of women screened (all ages) has remained almost level at 3.4 million, however those within the 25 to 64 age range have risen by 1.7 per cent to 3.2 million
• test results were available for 60 per cent of women within 4 weeks compared to 48 per cent last year. This year we were able to break this down further with results available within 2 weeks currently at 11 per cent but this is expected to rise
• the percentage of laboratory tests reported within 4 weeks has continued to improve, rising from 74 per cent last year to 83 per cent this year, the percentage reported within 2 weeks has also risen substantially (from 43 to 49 per cent).