Cervical screening: laboratory HPV testing and cytology services
Recording and reporting requirements for laboratories in accordance with the primary high risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) screening pathway.
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This guidance covers:
- the pathway for primary hrHPV screening
- the refinement of sample adequacy using findings from the Health Technology Assessment study
- information on what to include in the HPV-U reporting category
- call and recall codes for primary hrHPV screening
- the role and responsibilities for service leads
- advice for managers on laboratory organisation
It replaces:
- ‘Achievable standards, benchmarks for reporting and criteria for evaluating cervical cytopathology’ (2013), once a laboratory has implemented testing for high risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV)
- ‘Laboratory organisation: a guide for laboratories participating in the NHS Cervical Screening Programme (2003)’
This publication was originally published by Public Health England, which closed on 30 September 2021.
Updates to this page
Published 20 September 2019Last updated 26 September 2024 + show all updates
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Added clarification that publication was originally published by Public Health England.
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Clarified that the presence of endocervical cells is not required for a negative report.
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Updated content on reporting hrHPV tests (section 2.9 and new section 2.11) and clarified the follow-up arrangements for women who have attended colposcopy (section 5.4). Updated Table 2 valid code combinations for HPV and cytology results and also content on clinical governance (section 7.5) and laboratory organisation (section 8.7 and section 8.8).
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Added new section (7.3): Automatic authorisation of primary HPV negative test results.
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Updated links in section 5.1 and section 5.4 of the guidance for cervical screening laboratories providing HPV testing and cytology services.
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First published.