EVALUATION OF THE NHS CERVICAL SCREENING PROGRAMME IN ENGLAND
Research type
Research Study
Full title
EVALUATION OF THE NHS CERVICAL SCREENING PROGRAMME IN ENGLAND
IRAS ID
178909
Contact name
Peter Sasieni
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen Mary University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
This project aims to assess whether the NHS cervical screening programme in England is meeting its objective of reducing the number of women being diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer.
In England, women aged 25-64 and registered with a GP are invited on a regular basis to attend for a screening test to identify abnormal cells on the cervix, with the aim of treating them before they can develop into cervical cancer.
We will look at the screening history of women diagnosed with cervical cancer, compared with those who don’t have cancer, to find out whether women who have attended for screening are less likely to develop cancer than those who do not attend. We would also like to know whether attending screening has a direct effect on how advanced the cancer is when it is diagnosed and on the treatment received after diagnosis.
We will do this using a subset of data from an existing database of information collated for the national Audit of invasive cervical cancer and held by Public Health England (PHE). We will ask PHE to send us de-personalised data, from which individuals cannot be identified. The database includes all women registered with an NHS GP in England who have been diagnosed with cervical cancer since 2007, and women who are matched to these ‘cases’ by age and location, but do not have cervical cancer. We will not be contacting participants or collecting data ourselves.
Around 2,500 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in England each year. The benefit of this project is in finding out how effective the NHS cervical screening programme is at preventing cervical cancer and whether there are any areas that could be improved.
REC name
North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NW/0655
Date of REC Opinion
13 Nov 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion