The latest annual report on cervical screening coverage1 in England has been published by NHS Digital today.
Cervical Screening Programme, England 2019-20 presents information on women aged 25-64 who were invited for regular screening, as well as the screening samples sent to pathology laboratories and referrals to colposcopy clinics.
It also shows the change in the programme’s coverage in England compared to previous years, the numbers invited for screening and the results of the samples taken and the time taken to return results.
In total, 4.63m women aged 25-64 were invited for screening during 2019-20, which is a 5.0% increase on the previous year when 4.41m were invited.
3.20m women aged 25-64 were tested in 2019-20. This is a decrease of 6.8% on the previous year when 3.43m women were tested2.
Latest 2019-20 coverage figures show that 72.2% of eligible women aged 25-64 had last been screened within the required number of years1. This is an increase of 0.3 percentage points from the previous year when coverage was 71.9%.
In the 50-64 age cohort, coverage was lowest in the oldest age group (60-64) and highest in the youngest age group (50-54).
The main report is accompanied by an interactive data dashboard, which allows users to break down the coverage data by geography3 and to also see a time series.
As of 31 March 2020 (for women aged 25-64), coverage ranged from 64.7% in London to 75.5% in the North East – with all screening regions reporting an increase in coverage when compared with the same point in 2019.
103 of 149 local authorities had coverage levels of 70% and above, which is an increase of two compared with 2019.
Coverage ranged from 49.8% in Kensington and Chelsea (London) to 80.2% in Rutland (East Midlands). This is the first time a local authority (Rutland) has met or exceeded the 80% coverage target for women aged 25-64.
In 2019-20, 191,563 women were referred for colposcopy (all ages).
Read the full report:
Cervical Screening Programme, England – 2019-20
ENDS
