Dr. Karin Denton:

My view is that it is beneficial. We should also note that it is the whole patient pathway, from sample taking, cytology and colposcopy to management afterwards, as well as histology and anything else that happens to the patient during the pathway. Most of the cases that have been identified as problems have at least some cytology component, but there are issues that have been picked up in other parts of the pathway also.

The audit is producing good outcomes that should give grounds to implement changes. What we would like to see is a better process for identifying them in order that a national screening committee could examine the audit's findings and ask what could be done about them before implementing evidence-based changes.