Cervical screening coverage
Updated 25 May 2022
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/be-clear-on-cancer-first-national-cervical-screening-saves-lives-campaign/cervical-screening-coverage
This is one of a series of summaries produced for the campaign, each focusing on a different evaluation measure (referred to as a metric) which reflects a key point in the patient pathway. These metrics should not be considered in isolation. Please refer to the considerations when interpreting these results.
Main findings
The first national ‘Cervical Screening Saves Lives’ campaign appears to have had an impact on cervical screening coverage.
Background
This metric considers whether the ‘Cervical Screening Saves Lives’ campaign had an impact on the number of individuals responding to their invitation for screening.
Cervical coverage is defined as the proportion of individuals in the resident population eligible for cervical screening who were screened adequately within the previous 3.5 years (for ages 25 to 49 years) and 5.5 years (for ages 50 to 64 years), where:
- eligible means the individual is in the age range 25 to 64 years and is not ceased for clinical reasons (no cervix)
- adequate means an adequate screening result is recorded for the individual
The acceptable threshold for cervical screening coverage is 80%.
See the quarterly reports of cervical screening coverage data. Data is shown for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and GP practices.
Methods
The analysis period was quarter 4 (January to March 2019) to quarter 2 (July to September 2019). Data for this period was compared to the same 3 quarters in 2018. Further information on the methodology used for the campaign analysis is available.
Results for age group 25 to 49 years
Figure 1 below compares cervical screening coverage for eligible individuals aged 25 to 49 years in England for the same quarters in the years 2018 and 2019.
Figure 1: Cervical screening coverage for ages 25 to 49 years, for years 2018 and 2019
| Year | Year 2018 | Year 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter 4 (Jan to Mar) | 69.4 | 70.2 |
| Quarter 1 (Apr to Jun) | 69.6 | 71.0 |
| Quarter 2 (Jul to Sep) | 69.1 | 70.8 |
The data shows that:
- in quarter 4 (January to March): there was a significant 0.9% increase from 69.4% in 2018 to 70.2% in 2019 (p<0.001)
- in quarter 1 (April to June): there was a significant 1.4% increase from 69.6% in 2018 to 71.0% in 2019 (p<0.001)
- in quarter 2 (July to September): there was a significant 1.7% increase from 69.4% in 2018 to 70.2% in 2019 (p<0.001)
Cervical screening coverage for ages 25 to 49 was slightly above the long term trend during and just after the campaign, but subsequently fell back to trend.
Figure 2 below shows a longer term trend for cervical screening coverage for eligible individuals aged 25 to 49 years in England from 2016 to 2020.
Figure 2: Cervical screening coverage for ages 25 to 49 years, from quarter 3 2016 to 2017 to quarter 4 2019 to 2020 (October 2016 to March 2020)
The dotted line shows the linear trend for coverage over this time.
The line graph above shows an overall increase from 69.3% for quarter 3 2016 to 2017 (October to December 2016) to 70.9% for quarter 4 2019 to 2020 (January to March 2020). The lowest point of the line is 68.6% for quarter 3 2017 to 2018 (October to December 2017). The highest point of the line is 71.0% for quarter 1 2019 to 2020 (April to June 2019).
Results for age group 50 to 64 years
Figure 3 below compares cervical screening coverage for eligible individuals aged 50 to 64 years in England for the same quarters in the years 2018 and 2019.
Figure 3: Cervical screening coverage for ages 50 to 64 years, for years 2018 and 2019
| Year | Year 2018 | Year 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter 4 (Jan to Mar) | 76.3 | 76.4 |
| Quarter 1 (Apr to Jun) | 76.4 | 76.7 |
| Quarter 2 (Jul to Sep) | 76.2 | 76.6 |
The data shows that:
- in quarter 4 (January to March): there was a non-significant 0.1% increase from 76.3% in 2018 to 76.4% in 2019 (p=0.13)
- in quarter 1 (April to June): there was a significant 0.3% increase from 76.4% in 2018 to 76.7% in 2019 (p<0.001)
- in quarter 2 (July to September): there was a significant 0.3% increase from 76.2% in 2018 to 76. 6% in 2019 (p<0.001)
Cervical screening coverage for ages 50 to 64 was slightly above the long term trend during and just after the campaign, but subsequently fell back to trend.
Figure 4 below shows a longer term trend for cervical screening coverage for eligible individuals aged 50 to 64 years in England from 2016 to 2020.
Figure 4: Cervical screening coverage for ages 25 to 49 years, from quarter 3 2016 to 2017 to quarter 4 2019 to 2020 (October 2016 to March 2020)
The dotted line shows the linear trend for coverage over this time.
The line graph above shows an overall decrease from 77.4% for quarter 3 2016 to 2017 (October to December 2016) to 76.4% for quarter 4 2019 to 2020 (January to March 2020). The lowest point of the line is 76.1% for quarter 3 2018 to 2019 (October to December 2018).
Conclusions
There was a statistically significant increase in cervical screening coverage for individuals aged 25 to 49 years and 50 to 64 years compared to the same time periods in 2018 and 2019. The older age group saw a smaller change. Both age groups saw changes above the long term trend. This change seems to be mainly during and immediately after the campaign, suggesting only a short-term boost. This is likely to be as a result of the increased number of individuals attending for screening during the campaign.
The ‘Cervical Screening Saves Lives’ campaign appears to have had a short-term impact on cervical screening coverage.
Get advice on the signs and symptoms of cancer from the NHS website. You can also find out more about the evaluation of Be Clear on Cancer campaigns.