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Current UK NSC recommendations > Cervical Cancer

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The UK NSC recommendation on Cervical Cancer screening in women (currently in consultation)

This recommendation is currently being reviewed as part of the UK NSC's regular review cycle of all policies. The review process began in Jan 2018 and is estimated to be completed by Apr 2019. » Download the expert review for Cervical Cancer (ZIP archive, 4.88MB) The UK NSC welcomes comments and feedback on the expert review during the consultation period that lasts from 17/09/2018 until 18/01/2019. Please send comments to Screening Evidence by e-mail using this feedback form. Please note that all consultation submissions will be published on this page when the review is complete. Full details can be found in the confidentiality and disclosure section at the bottom of this page.
Recommendation	Systematic population screening programme recommended

The UK NSC recommended in November 2012 that the age of first invitation for cervical screening should be raised to 25 in Wales and Scotland on the basis that there is evidence of a large number of women screened and treated with relatively little benefit below this age. Screening for women aged 50-64 should be undertaken five yearly. A number of Questions and Answers have been written to help explain the rationale for starting screening at age 25 rather than 20.

Find general information about population health screening.

Why is screening recommended by UK NSC?

The reasons the UK NSC recommended changing to HPV as the primary cervical screening test are that:

the HPV vaccination offered to girls aged 12 to 13 strengthens the rationale for primary HPV screening. The vaccination will offer prevention of HPV and result in a falling number of women who remain at risk of catching HPV and developing cervical cancer

a primary test for HPV will save more lives by determining a woman’s risk earlier. Work to assess extending the screening interval with HPV screening is ongoing. This will follow once confirmatory pilot data and other international evidence is reviewed by the UK NSC

HPV testing means that if the woman tested does not have high risk HPV, her chances of developing a cancer within five years are very small

More about Cervical Cancer

The cervix is the lower part (or neck) of the womb, made of muscle tissue. It is the entrance to the womb from the vagina. Cancer of the cervix is a relatively rare type of cancer. In the UK, approximately 2,800 women are diagnosed with it each year.

Screening in the UK

Compare how screening is offered across the UK.

Stakeholders

The stakeholder groups will be involved when the recommendation is next reviewed. If you think your organisation should be added, please contact us. More information for stakeholders can be found in appendix C of the UK NSC evidence review process.

Confidentiality and disclosure

Information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information, may be subject to publication or release to other parties or to disclosure in accordance with the access to information regimes (these are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 1998, and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004). If you want information, including personal data that you provide to be treated as confidential, please be aware that, under the FOIA, there is a statutory Code of Practice with which public authorities must comply and which deals, amongst other things, with obligations of confidence.

In view of this it would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the UK National Screening Committee.

Any request for information to be treated in confidence will be taken into consideration in the publication of responses to the consultation. The UK National Screening Committee intends to publish all responses following the closure of the consultation period, however we will not publish responses from respondents who request that any of the information in their response, including personal data, should be handled in confidence. The UK National Screening Committee reserves the right not to publish or take into account any representations which are openly offensive or defamatory.

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