Big increase in numbers of women undergoing cervical screening

The number of eligible women undergoing cervical screening increased by just under 400,000 in 2008/09, says a report out today from The NHS Information Centre.

The report, Cervical Screening Programme, England 2008-09, shows the number of eligible women aged 25 to 64 being screened rose by just under 12 per cent last year, from 3.2 million to 3.6 million.

The scale of the increase prompted the first rise in the programme's coverage since 2002, with the percentage of eligible women who had been screened in the previous five years rising from 78.6 per cent at 31 March 2008 to 78.9 per cent at 31 March 2009.

The increase in screening was more prominent among younger age groups with coverage among 25 to 49-year-olds who had undergone screening in the previous three to three-and-a-half years increasing from 69.3 per cent at 31 March 2008 to 72.5 per cent at 31 March 2009. Overall the report showed:

  • The number of women (25 to 64) invited for screening fell to four million in 2008/09 from 4.2 million the previous year, a decrease of 3.8 per cent
  • The overall number of women (all ages) screened increased from 3.4 million in the previous year to 3.7 million in 2008/09 – an increase of 10.5 per cent.
  • Test results were available for 21.4 per cent of women within two weeks in 2008/09, compared to 11.1 per cent the previous year. They were available within four weeks for 65.5 per cent of women in 2008/09 compared to 59.6 per cent in the previous year.

Chief executive of The NHS Information Centre Tim Straughan said: “The report shows that just under 400,000 more eligible women underwent cervical screening last year than in the previous year.

“This is a welcome boost in numbers which follows media personality Jade Goody's highly publicised battle with the disease.

“It means more women are now up-to-date with their cervical screening test than last year, the first rise since 2002.

“Pleasingly our report also shows that women are getting their test results quicker than they did previously.”

A full copy of the report is at pubs/cervscreen0809

ENDS

Notes to editors

  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 to three and a half years for those aged 25 to 49 and every five years for those aged 50 to 64. 3
  3. Coverage is defined as the percentage of women in a population eligible for screening at a given point in time who were less than a specified period since their last test producing an adequate test result. Women ineligible for screening, and thus not included in the numerator or denominator of the coverage calculation, are those whose recall has been ceased for clinical reasons (most commonly due to hysterectomy).
  4. Regional information is available from this report.
  5. For media enquires please call 0845 257 6990 or contact: