Cervical Screening Register
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Cervical Screening Register
The National Cervical Screening Programme
Cancer of the cervix is one of the most preventable of all cancers. It is estimated that about 90% of cases of the most common form of cervical cancer could be prevented if women had smear test every three years. A cervical smear test checks for abnormal changes before they become cancer. If abnormal changes are found early, they can be treated very effectively.
The National Cervical Screening programme aims to reduce the number of women in New Zealand who develop cervical cancer and the number of women who die from it. The programme includes health promotion, smear taking, laboratory analysis of cervical smears, cervical biopsies and management of women with abnormal smear results.
The National Cervical Screening Programme Register
The National Cervical Screening Programme (NCSP) Registry is a computer system which holds the details of women enrolled in the programme as well as smear takers, specialists and laboratories. Women are entitled to get access to the information the NCSP Register holds on them.
If you change your name or address please let your smear taker and the National Screening Programme Staff know by calling freephone: 0800 729 729.
What information is collected?
The following information is collected on women enrolled in the programme and stored on the NCSP Register:
- Personal details to help correctly identify women
- Cervical smear test and biopsy/histology results to help decide when the next smear is due or follow up required
- Contact details and relevant clinical information so the programme can write and remind the woman she is overdue to have a smear test or if she requires further follow up
- Ethnicity details, which are used to plan better services.
The National Screening Unit of the Ministry of Health in Wellington holds this information securely. Only authorised personnel have access to information stored on the NCSP Register. It is protected by the Health Act 1956, as amended by Part 4A and can only be provided outside the programme to your health practitioner(s) and/or evaluators or a review committee appointed by the Minister of Health to check how well the programme is working.
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