Cancer screening coverage: cervical cancer (aged 25 to 49 years old) - WMCA

The proportion of women in the resident population eligible for cervical screening aged 25 to 49 years at end of period reported who were screened adequately within the previous 3.5 years.

Rationale

Cervical screening supports detection of cell abnormalities that may become cancer and is estimated to save 4,500 lives in England each year. Inclusion of this indicator provides an opportunity to incentivise screening promotion and other local initiatives to increase coverage of cervical cancer screening.

Improvements in coverage would mean more cervical cancer is prevented or detected at earlier, more treatable stages.

Definition of numerator

Tested women (numerator) is the number of eligible women with a technically adequate screen within the previous 3.5 years.

Definition of denominator

Eligible women (denominator) is the number of women aged 25 to 49 years resident in the area (determined by postcode of residence) who are eligible for cervical screening at a given point in time, excluding those without a cervix.

Caveats

Data for ICBs are estimated from local authority data. In most cases ICBs are coterminous with local authorities, so the ICB figures are precise. In cases where local authorities cross ICB boundaries, the local authority data are proportionally split between ICBs, based on population located in each ICB.

The affected ICBs are:

• Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire;
• Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes;
• Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West;
• Cambridgeshire and Peterborough;
• Frimley;
• Hampshire and Isle of Wight;
• Hertfordshire and West Essex;
• Humber and North Yorkshire;
• Lancashire and South Cumbria;
• Norfolk and Waveney;
• North East and North Cumbria;
• Suffolk and North East Essex;
• Surrey Heartlands;
• Sussex;
• West Yorkshire.

Please be aware that the April 2019 to March 2020, April 2020 to March 2021 and April 2021 to March 2022 data covers the time period affected by the COVID19 pandemic and therefore data for this period should be interpreted with caution.

This indicator gives screening coverage by local authority of residence. This is not the same as the indicator based on population registered with primary care organisations which include patients wherever they live. This is likely to result in different England totals depending on selected (registered or resident) population footprint.

The indicator excludes women outside the target age range for the screening programme who may self refer for screening.