NHSX has announced the launch of a new cloud-based IT system for cervical screening in England.

The initiative has been welcomed by charity Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, which said it was necessary for the system to track the patient pathway and collect the right data to move towards eliminating cervical cancer.

From October the screening service will be moved onto the new NHS Cervical Screening Management System, which is designed to be more secure and reliable.

The new system is intended to improve data quality and be simpler to use. A new interface will replace outdated technology, making it easier to access and use screening participants’ information.

Currently, the cervical screening system uses data from around 80 different databases. The new management system will link into the NHS Personal Demographics Service (PDS) and provide a single source of national patient demographic information.

After the launch of the cervical screening management system, NHSX plans to transform the IT system behind other screening services, starting with breast screening in 2022.

WHY IT MATTERS

There is an urgent need to address screening backlogs following the COVID-19 pandemic. Having a single source of data will help ensure the NHS has up to date details, including address information, and reduce potential delays to screening participants receiving important correspondence.

The digital transformation of the screening programme aims to introduce state-of-the-art technology to support NHS screening services achieve the ambitions set out in the 2019 Independent Review of Screening by Professor Sir Mike Richards. These include increasing the uptake of screening and making it more personalised and targeted.

THE LARGER CONTEXT

Meanwhile, a trial is taking place at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge into using artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose dementia from an MRI brain scan before symptoms develop.

Professor Zoe Kourtzi has devised an algorithm which scans patients’ medical records and compares their brain scans to thousands of dementia patients.

ON THE RECORD

Samantha Dixon, chief executive of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, said: “We welcome an urgent and long-overdue improvement to the Cervical Screening Management System to make it a more person-centred experience. The IT system was called ‘not fit for purpose’ a decade ago, by the Department of Health, and it is women and people with a cervix who have felt the impact of this over these years. We need to see a system which can adequately track the patient pathway, collect the right data and ultimately bring us closer to our goal of eliminating cervical cancer.”

Dr Simon Eccles, NHSX’s lead for digital transformation of screening, said: “Our top priority throughout is to ensure the clinical safety of screening participants. This is the basis for trust in the NHS. In the short term this has meant weighing our ambitions for the future with the urgent priority to move the cervical screening service onto a more secure and reliable IT system.”