Health Screening

We can support implementation & improvement of your programmes

Effective screening can help save lives and improve the quality of life through the early diagnosis and treatment of serious conditions. Screening presents different challenges to clinical practice as it is about targeting apparently healthy people from a large population in order to detect a small number of people who are affected.
We have expertise in evidence review, preparation of guidance, co-ordination, commissioning and quality assurance of formal NHS Screening programmes in the UK and national programmes abroad.

We are currently carrying out a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of interventions designed to improve participation, amongst under-served population groups, in national screening programmes in the UK. This review is registered on PROSPERO and the protocol is available here: Protocol for Systematic Review

 

What we do

  • Review the evidence base for potential new national screening programmes in the UK and abroad
  • Develop guidance about how to set up formal screening programmes in the UK and abroad
  • Develop and monitor Key Performance Indicators for screening programmes
  • Support the development and implementation of health screening quality assurance programmes
  • Offer engagement events to providers to explore improvements to the screening pathway

Please get in touch via our contact page.

Case Studies

Screening programmes; commissioning and co-ordination

Between 2002 and the NHS re-structure in 2013, SPH provided commissioning and public health support and advice to the commissioners of all cancer and non-cancer screening programmes across one region, including nine cancer screening programmes, two Diabetic Eye screening programmes and one Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm screening programme. SPH also supported all antenatal and new-born screening programmes in up to four NHS hospital trusts over an 11-year period. The types of activity that SPH undertook for this work included:
  • Supporting commissioners to meet the requirements and standards of national and local service specifications
  • Ensuring that all screening programme contracts are monitored regularly and action plans implemented where necessary to recover performance
  • Providing public health advice and expertise to commissioners and screening programmes about national and local policies, standards and pathways
  • Co-ordination of all relevant service providers along the screening pathway to support performance management of programmes
  • Identifying differences in access to screening programmes and developing actions to address them
  • Responding to enquiries from stakeholders
  • Participating in the investigation of serious untoward incidents and putting systems in place to ensure they are not repeated
  • Identifying and disseminating best practice
Testimonials