APPENDIX 2
CERVICAL CYTOLOGY AT ST. CROSS HOSPITAL,
RUGBY (PAC 97-98/426)
MEMORANDUM
BY THE
COMPTROLLER TO
AUDITOR GENERAL
Box 9 on page 62 of my report "The Performance
of the NHS Cervical Screening Programme in England" (HC 678
Session 1997-98) outlines a review undertaken at the Hospital
of St. Cross, Rugby. The results of this review were not available
when my report was finalised, but now are.
A re-screening of 500 sample slides in May 1997
had shown that 16 slides, or three per cent, were abnormal, when
the laboratory had initially reported them as normal. In November
1997, the hospital laboratory began a re-screening of 17,451 smears
taken during the period January 1995 to April 1997.
On 30 March 1998, Warwickshire Health Authority
announced the outcome of the review. They found that, of the 17,451
smears re-screened:
— 175 slides (one per cent of the total)
were read as being more serious than the original findings;
— 875 slides (five per cent) were read
as being less serious than the original findings;
— 15,616 slides (89.5 per cent) were
read as confirming the original findings; and
— 785 slides (4.5 per cent) were unsatisfactory—they
were either unreadable because they had been damaged, or had deteriorated
over time.
The hospital has followed up all the slides
found to be more serious than the original findings. And the Health
Authority has invited the women whose smears could not be reviewed
to have new smear tests.
The results were reviewed by an independent
expert panel.
The panel concluded that the laboratory had
been working to an acceptable degree of accuracy. The review had
nevertheless been justified and necessary in view of the concerns
that were raised.
Cervical screening work was transferred from
St. Cross Hospital in August 1998 ahead of the results of the
re-screening exercise because, under the guidelines of the Cervical
Screening Programme, the laboratory could not meet new standards
on throughput.
National Audit Office
10 November 1998
| 
