Guidelines for cervical screening await scientific evaluation

BMJ 1998;317:1152 ( 24 October )

Letters

Guidelines for cervical screening await scientific evaluation

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ In a news item about cervical screening in England¹ Wise refers to a report by the National Audit Office.² Theoffice is particularly critical of serious failings in the interpretationof cervical smears in a small number of laboratories. The laboratoryat the Hospital of St Cross in Rugby is included among these laboratories.In fact, a massive rescreening exercise at the hospital did notfind any serious errors of interpretation, and the original reportswere considered to be substantially correct and within the acceptedoperating limits of the smeartest.

The National Audit Office and the public assume that any deviation from the national guidelines for reporting rates representsmistakes by the laboratory. It is therefore interesting that,although the results at the hospital in Rugby were outside theseguidelines, no serious errors were identified. This raises thequestion of whether the guidelines are an appropriate measure. . . [Full text of this article]