Achievable Standards, Benchmarks for Reporting and Criteria for Evaluating Cervical Cytopathology

NHSCSP Publication No 1
ISBN 1 87 1997 47 X
published May 2000

This document sets achievable targets and standards for laboratories engaged in cervical screening. The aim of this publication is:

• to re-inforce and where necessary revise existing guidelines for reporting cervical samples and clarify areas of potential misunderstanding

• to propose new performance indicators for the reporting of negative, inadequate and abnormal categories of cervical samples

• to identify pitfalls in cytological diagnosis which may lead to false-positives and false-negatives

• to propose criteria for evaluating performance and effectiveness of cervical cytopathology

• to re-assess the guidance, in the light of experience and better data quality, and in the context of 'the new NHS', to enable the setting, delivery and monitoring of quality standards in cervical cytopathology.

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NHS Cervical Screening Publications