Practice Incentives Program Quality Improvement Measures: National report on the first year of data 2020-21

Cervical cancer develops when abnormal cells in the lining of the cervix begin to multiply out of control and form precancerous lesions. If undetected, these lesions can develop into tumours and spread into the surrounding tissue. Australia commenced an organised program of routine cervical screening of the eligible female population in 1991 and the cervical screening test was introduced in Australia in December 2017 replacing the old Pap test. The Pap test used to look for changes in the cells of the cervix. The new cervical screening test looks for evidence of the human papillomavirus (HPV), which can lead to cell changes in the cervix (AIHW 2019). In Australia, cervical cancer accounts for less than 2% of all female cancers, with a relatively low incidence of 7 new cases per 100,000 women of all ages (AIHW 2019).

Women aged 25 to 74 years become eligible to receive their first cervical screening test 2 years after the last Pap test was done and then the cervical screening test should be conducted every 5 years. A small minority of data from Pap smear tests performed before December 2017 may be included in the report.

Capture of results recorded outside of the general practice setting

Results arising from cervical screening test conducted outside of the service that are known and recorded by the practice are included in the measure. Where the cervical screening test was conducted elsewhere (for example, community health centre, women’s health centre, family planning or sexual health clinic etc.) and the information is not recorded in the clinical information system of the client’s usual general practice, then then these data will not be captured in the report.

Other sources of relevant data

There are other administrative data collections where the data on cervical screening test are captured, e.g., the National Cancer Screening Register (NCSR).