We’ve published our CervicalCheck programme report 2022-2023.
Cervical screening overview
CervicalCheck is for women and people with a cervix aged 25 to 65 who do not have symptoms of cervical cancer. We invite women aged 25 to 29 every three years, and those aged 30 to 65 every five years. The figures reported relate to women who attended for cervical screening between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.
- 269,550 women were screened.
- 89% of women screened tested negative for HPV.
- The prevalence of HPV among the screened population is 11%.
- Of those who tested positive for HPV, 49% had no abnormal cells detected and are recalled in 12 months for a follow-up HPV screening test.
- 44% of women who tested positive for HPV had low-grade abnormalities detected; 8% of women had high-grade abnormalities detected.
Colposcopy overview
Women with low-grade and high-grade abnormalities detected are referred to colposcopy for further examination. We provided 57,082 colposcopy clinic appointments. The number of women attending colposcopy for the first time was 27,479 and 27,603 women were return attendees.
46% of women who attended colposcopy had a cervical biopsy taken. 26,415 cervical biopsies were performed. Of the women who had a cervical biopsy:
- 23% had no abnormalities and were reassured and discharged
- 50% had low-grade abnormal cells detected, the majority of which do not require treatment
- 27% had high-grade abnormalities detected
- 0.8% (162 women) were diagnosed with cervical cancer in colposcopy. This is the expected outcome for approximately 1% of women who attend colposcopy.
Programme coverage
The report shows a 75% coverage which represents the proportion of the target population screened within a 5-year period. Ireland has the third highest coverage in the EU - well above the EU average of 55%.
- The highest coverage is among those aged 25 to 29.
- The lowest coverage is among those aged 60 to 65.
- Coverage varied by county with a range of 66% to 82%.
Quality improvement
Our programme performance is measured against standards in our Standards for Quality Assurance in Cervical Screening. We performed well against these standards in 2022 and 2023, achieving the majority of our targets, which are outlined in the report.
We also completed many of our quality improvement projects in 2022 and 2023 including:
- developing and implementing our Education Strategy
- continued quality assurance (QA) visits of our screening laboratories
- rolling out QA visits of colposcopy clinics
- designing our process for histology QA visits and QA visit schedules
- designing guidance for screening in women with clinical symptoms
- designing guidance for women post hysterectomy
- introducing our interval cancer review process for women who develop cancer after screening - Personal Cervical Screening Reviews.
Publishing the report, CervicalCheck Clinical Director Professor Nóirín Russell said: “Our focus on operational excellence ensures that we continue to deliver high-quality, efficient, and safe services. The data in this report demonstrates that cervical screening is a vital tool in preventing cervical cancer by identifying and treating precancers. Early detection and timely treatment of cervical cancer can save lives. We extend our thanks to our staff and all our partners in the screening pathway, from laboratory to primary and community care, to colposcopy and histopathology. We will continue to work together to enable more women to choose screening and move towards achieving our goal of cervical cancer elimination - making cervical cancer a rare occurrence in Ireland.”