10 May 2019

Adult health screening - PAC report

Adult health screening
House of Commons Public Accounts Committee 10 May 2019
  • The PAC took evidence on the management of four of the 11 health screening programmes operating in England: bowel, breast and cervical cancers and abdominal aortic aneurism. It found that none of the screening programmes examined met their targets for ensuring the eligible population was screened in 2017–18. 
  • The IT used to identify the eligible population for screening has been unfit for purpose for screening programmes since 2011, but still has not been replaced. 
  • Overall it was concluded that the national oversight of screening programmes has failed patients, resulting in thousands of women not being invited for breast and cervical screenings or waiting too long for their cervical screening results.  Only one CCG area met its target of screening 80% or more of its eligible population in 2017–18