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Scottish Cervical Screening Programme Statistics

"This dataset provides annual cervical screening statistics in Scotland, including information on coverage and uptake by NHS Health Board of Residence, deprivation and age. In addition, data are presented on laboratory services including the percentage of samples reported within two weeks and the percentage of tests rejected NHS Health Board of Residence.

From 2016/17 the eligible age for cervical screening is 25-64. Historically, women aged 25-49 have been invited to attend cervical screening every three years and those aged 50-64 every five. From March 2020, women aged 25-64 are invited every five years. The five-year recall for younger women will be implemented to the KPI analysis in 2025/26, to allow screening participant to move to the new recall interval. The routine interval for those aged 50-64 years remained unchanged at five years.

On 30 March 2020, Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing replaced cervical cytology as the primary (first) cervical screening test. Cytology based tests are still used but only when HPV is found or if someone has previously had cell changes.

Further information on cervical screening in Scotland can be found in the most recent annual publication. The date of the next release can be found on our list of forthcoming publications."

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Source Scottish Cervical Call Recall System (SCCRS)
Author PHS Adult Screening Team
Maintainer Theresa Ryan
Last Updated July 29, 2025, 14:58 (BST)
Created May 28, 2020, 13:25 (BST)
Contact Address Public Health Scotland, Gyle Square, 1 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9EB
Subject Conditions and Diseases
Frequency Annual
Time frame of data and timeliness Data up to financial year ending 31 March 2024
Coverage Covers uptake back to 1997/98 and workload statistics back to 2007/08. No data for NHS Borders, NHS Dumfries & Galloway and Island Boards due to no laboratories processing tests in these boards.
Completeness At time of extraction, data for the most recent year are estimated to be accurate.
Accuracy Cervical Screening data are subject to quality assurance procedures. Reported data are compared to previous years' figures and to expected trends.
Continuity of data "Coverage (eligible women who have had a previous screening encounter, smear test taken within the previous 3.5 or 5.5 year) by NHS Health Board of Residence, deprivation (SIMD) and age groups are reported for financial years 2016/17 to 2023/24. To remain relevant following the introduction of the new KPIs, uptake figures (women and anyone with a cervix who received an invite or reminder letter during the financial year and had a cervical screening encounter within six months (183 days)) are presented by NHS Health Board of Residence, deprivation (SIMD) and age groups for financial years 2016/17 to 2023/24. New KPIs were developed relating to laboratory and screening processes. These are reported from 2016/17 to 2023/24, or from 2020/21 where appropriate when looking at HPV tests (introduced as the primary screening test). Historic workload data on cervical screening tests processed and turnaround times by NHS Board/laboratory from 2007/08 can be found in the Archived open data."
Concepts and definitions Please see Cervical Screening FAQ and Glossary document found at the bottom of the Cervical Screening homepage.
Disclosure The PHS protocol on Statistical Disclosure Protocol is followed.
Revision statement Due to errors in previous data extracts, cervical screening coverage for financial years 2016/17 to 2021/22 have been updated.
Official statistics designation "Official Statistics in development. Public Health Scotland (PHS) previously released Scottish cervical screening programme statistics as Accredited Official Statistics (previously known as National Statistics). PHS requested a temporary suspension due to methodological changes and errors with the previous data. Correspondence with the Office for Statistics Regulation and details of this decision can be found on the [PHS website](https://publichealthscotland.scot/about-us/who-we-are/about-our-statistics/overview/correspondence-with-the-statistics-regulator/)"
Relevance and key uses of the statistics "PHS's Scottish Cervical Screening Programme statistics are designed for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the Scottish Cervical Screening Programme. The statistics are used for a variety of purposes."
Format csv
Language English
Links

"Cervical Screening in England; Cervical Screening in Wales;

Cervical Screening in Northern Ireland"