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Cervical screening in Highland
27/04/1998
Mr Sam Galbraith MP, Minister for Health at the Scottish Office, today welcomed the action being taken by Highland Health Board to ensure that all women in the Highlands who may not have had the full opportunity for cervical smears are invited for screening as soon as possible.
The Minister also announced that he was seeking an urgent report from Highland Health Board and Raigmore NHS Trust on the effectiveness of their call/recall arrangements in Highland.
Mr Galbraith also confirmed that he had accepted all the recommendations of recent reviews of both breast and cervical screening in Scotland. Their conclusion is that the arrangements in place in Scotland are generally working satisfactorily. However, they identify a number of aspects of the current arrangements in Scotland which need to be strengthened and improved. Expert National Advisory Groups will now advise the Minister on these issues.
Mr Galbraith said:
"I am always concerned to hear of difficulties in the provision of services such as the call/recall arrangements in Highland. I welcome the action being taken by the Board, in conjunction with GPs, to ensure that the screening history of all the women affected is examined, and that any woman affected is invited for screening as a matter of urgency.
"In addition, I have asked the Chief Executive of the NHS in Scotland to obtain from the Board and Raigmore NHS Trust a report by the end of May on the circumstances that have given rise to these problems; and I shall be seeking advice from an expert advisory group on any action that may be required elsewhere in Scotland in the light of Highland's experience."
BACKGROUND
Highland
1. Details of the circumstances that have arisen in relation to call/recall in Highland and of the action being taken by the Board, in consultation with GPs, have been issued by Highland Health Board.
2. These relate only to the call/recall arrangements. The cytopathology laboratory at Raigmore is accredited and participates in proficiency testing with satisfactory results, and its performance generally is in line with that of other cytopathology laboratories in Scotland.
General
3. During 1997 serious problems were identified in the Breast Screening Programme in Devon and Exeter and the Cervical Screening Programme at Kent and Canterbury. This led to reviews instituted by Ministers in England last Autumn. Many of the issues covered in these reports do not apply in Scotland as a result of differences in the way in which the screening programmes and associated quality assurance are organised and delivered.
4. The Minister commissioned reviews of both the Scottish Breast and Cervical Screening Programmes, the former to be undertaken by the National Advisory Group on Breast Screening, the latter by an expert group set up specifically for this purpose.
5. These reports have now been received by the Scottish Office. The Minister has accepted all the reports' recommendations subject to further examination of the need to strengthen the arrangements for commissioning breast screening services and for quality assurance of both the Breast and Cervical Screening Programmes, including the role and status of the Central Coordinating Unit for screening programmes which is based on the Common Services Agency. Copies of these reports are being laid in the Library of the House of Commons.
6. One of the recommendations on cervical screening was the need to establish an expert multi-disciplinary standing group to advise Ministers on cervical screening policy, supported by a multi-disciplinary professional quality assurance group covering internal and external quality assurance. The Minister has agreed to the establishment of such a group, to whom he will be referring a number of issues including the implications of experience in Highland for the screening programme in Scotland as a whole.
News Release: 0848/98
April 27, 1998