Abstract
Postal questionnaires were circulated to all Genito-Urinary Medicine (GUM) clinics in the UK (in parallel with questionnaires circulated to gynaecologists) on behalf of British Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (BSCCP) and National Co-ordinating Network (NCN) to audit colposcopy services. Information was sought on colposcopy workload, referral criteria, treatment method and followup, waiting times, staffing and training. A similar but less comprehensive survey of colposcopy services in GUM was undertaken in 1990 enabling direct comparison of some but not all aspects of the service in the last 3 to 4 years 1. One hundred and forty-two GUM Clinics replied. Of those who replied, 70 (49.3%) clinics provided a colposcopy service; an increase from 60 to 70 clinics since 1990. However, only 66 clinics provided detailed inform ation for analysis. Forty-six out of 66 (69.7%) clinics performed treatment for some or all of their patients and the most frequent methods of treatment used were loop excision and cold coagulation. One hundred and seventy-two (range 8-1982) patients were seen per annum with a m ean of 7 (range 1- 68) colposcopy sessions per month. Sixty-four per cent of these sessions were undertaken by consultants, 14% by training grades and the rest by Clinical Assistants and Associate Specialists. Fifty-three per cent of all patients with abnormal smears were colposcoped within 2 weeks and the maximum waiting period was less than 8 weeks for all severe dyskaryosis/malignant cells cytology reports; 1.6% of clinics admitted to having cases of invasive cervical cancer following previous treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and 96% of clinics had a protocol in place for defaulters. The default rate was 12% both for new and follow-up patients. Thirty out of 70 (43%) clinics were com puterized and 50/66 (75.8%) of clinics collected accurate statistics.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.