Cervical cancer screening in England

Cervical screening in England is provided free of charge by the National He alth Service to all women aged 20-64 years. Computerised call and recall wa s introduced in 1988 and women receive an invitation every 3-5 years. Smear s are taken by the local family doctor, by his/her nul se or at community c linics. Approximately 85% of English women have had a smear in the last 5 y ears. Quality assurance programmes have recently been established for labor atories and colposcopy clinics and lessons have been learned from previous failures of the service. The incidence has fallen from 16 per 100 000 in 19 86 to 9.3 per 100 000 in 1997. Mortality is currently falling by 7% pel yea r. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.