We’ve published our CervicalCheck programme report for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2022. This is the first CervicalCheck programme report to be published since the introduction of primary HPV cervical screening in 2020.
The report shows the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the delivery of cervical screening, including pausing screening for 3 months in 2020. When we began sending invitations again in July 2020, we first invited women we considered to be at higher risk, while carefully managing the capacity available to deliver follow-up care to women who attended screening.
Over the 2-year period we focused on delivering our service safely and to as many people as possible. Despite the challenges, by the end of 2021 we had screened the same number of women in the 2-year period of the pandemic as in any other 2-year period.
Changes to the CervicalCheck programme
We moved to provide primary HPV cervical screening in 2020. At the same time, we made a number of other changes:
- we increased the screening age range from 25-60 to 25-65 years
- we changed the number of years between screening tests to every 3 years for women aged 25 to 29 and every 5 years for women aged 30 to 65
- we created an increased surveillance pathway for women who have HPV found but have no abnormal cells found - these women are called back after one year for another HPV test.
All of these changes were implemented and managed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cervical screening overview
The figures reported relate to women and people with a cervix who attended for screening between 01 April 2020 and 31 March 2022.
- 526,816 women were screened.
- 88.8% of women screened tested negative for HPV.
- The prevalence of HPV among the screened population is 11.2%.
- Of those who tested positive for HPV, 57% had no abnormal cells detected and are recalled in 12 months for a follow-up HPV screening test.
- 35.5% of women who tested positive for HPV had low-grade abnormalities detected; and 7.6% had high-grade abnormalities detected.
Colposcopy overview
Women with low-grade and high-grade abnormalities detected are referred to colposcopy for further examination. There has been a relative increase in the detection of low-grade abnormalities. This is a positive impact of the change to primary HPV screening.
- 44% of women who attended colposcopy had a cervical biopsy taken.
- 26,408 cervical biopsies were performed.
- Of these, 63% had low-grade abnormal cells detected, the majority of which do not require treatment.
- 36.3% had high-grade abnormalities detected.
- 187 women were diagnosed with cervical cancer in colposcopy.
Programme coverage
The report shows a 73% coverage which represents the proportion of the target population screened within a 5-year period.
- The highest coverage is among those aged 25 to 29.
- The lowest coverage is among those aged over 60 years.
- Coverage varied by county with a range of 60% to 75%.
Quality improvement
We’re committed to continuous quality improvement of our screening programmes. The report shows the progress made implementing a 3-year quality improvement programme for CervicalCheck, developed as part of the change to primary HPV cervical screening, including:
- improving communications with screening participants and the public
- improving communications, training and education for healthcare professionals
- enhancing quality at all levels of CervicalCheck
- implementing ICT solutions to enhance the delivery of screening.
Publishing the report, Clinical Director of CervicalCheck Professor Nóirín Russell said: “This report tells the story of the first 2 years of primary HPV cervical screening and of the women who chose screening amid all the pressures brought by a global pandemic. It details the continued work done by all our screening partners, the dedicated CervicalCheck staff and National Screening Service teams, each making a valuable contribution to improving the health of our nation. I look forward to working collaboratively to achieve Ireland’s commitment to the World Health Organization’s cervical cancer elimination goal to make cervical cancer rare in Ireland by 2040.”