by Micheál Rourke, Data Analyst, National Screening Service
We’ve completed a review of how women respond to different invitation types to attend for cervical screening.
Our CervicalCheck programme moved to primary HPV cervical screening in 2020 and at the same time we changed the screening age range from 25-60 to 25-65. The move to HPV testing involved changes to intervals between screening as follows:
- the 3-year recall changed from women aged 25 to 44 to women aged 25 to 29
- the 5-year recall changed from women aged 45 to 60 to women aged 30 to 65
- a 1-year recall was introduced for women who have HPV but have no abnormal cells
Women get an invitation letter from CervicalCheck asking them to book an appointment with their GP or general practice nurse for their HPV cervical screening test.
Invitation types
There are 6 different invitation paths for cervical screening:
- New invites: an invitation to women to attend for their first HPV cervical screening test
- 1-year recall: an invitation sent to women 10 to 12 months after their last screening when they have a ‘HPV found’ result without abnormal cells
- 3-year invite: an invitation to women aged 25 to 29 who have:
- a previous recorded normal screening test result
- not responded to a previous invite, or
- a clinical history that indicates a repeat screening in 3 years
- 5-year invite: an invitation to women aged 30 to 65 who have:
- a previous recorded normal screening test result
- not responded to a previous invite, or
- a clinical history that indicates a repeat screening in 5 years
- Lapsed attender invite: an invitation sent to women 35 months after their last invitation letter if they have not yet attended
- Non-responder invite: an invitation sent to women who have been invited to attend for a screening test but have never attended
What we did
We analysed data for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2022 to see at what point in time, if any, women attended for their cervical screening test after receiving their invitation letter, up to two years after it was sent.
What we found
There are some large differences between invitation types and the response rates.
- The data shows that women who plan to attend for cervical screening will have usually done so within 9 to 12 months after receiving their invitation, regardless of invitation type. The response rate after 12 months is low for all invitation types.
- 60% of new invitees, 3-year, 5-year and 1-year repeat invitees, will attend for screening within 6 months. This increased to between 75% and 90% within 12 months.
- Lapsed attenders and non-responders had the lowest response rates with only 20% of lapsed attenders and 5% of non-responders attending for a screening test within 12 months of receiving an invitation.
What this tells us
This research gives us a better understanding of cervical screening behaviours and how women respond to different types of invitations. This will help us to improve how we predict screening attendance rates. These projections are important in planning future programme activity including laboratory testing and colposcopy clinic activity.
- This research was presented by Micheál Rourke, Data Analyst, National Screening Service at the BSCCP annual scientific meeting in Edinburgh in April 2024.
- 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.
- Read about how new insights into cervical screening behaviour helps improve annual screening estimates.
- Cervical cancer could be the first cancer ever to be eliminated globally. Ireland is on track to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040.