Training for Cervical Screening (Cervical Smears and Cervical Cytology)

I have often been contacted to seek the LMC's view about training updates.

The National Screening Committee does recommend that all cervical smear takers should attend regular  training updates and these should occur at intervals of not more than 3 yearly.

As a doctor registered with the GMC, you are required to keep up to date and maintain your skills in all clinical aspects of general practice.  It is your professional obligation to make a judgement  about what training you  need to undertake to do this.  One could argue that if you were required to attend training for this,  you should do so for every area of  clinical practice, we would end up being unable to see patients because we would be spending most of our time  on training updates.

The LMC's advice is as follows:

Each Practice should have a cervical cytology lead.  This should be someone who takes smears regularly.  This does not need to be a doctor and in many practices it will be a practice nurse.

The practice cervical cytology lead should attend the regular training updates.

The training should be cascaded throughout the practice to those who take cervical smears.

If any clinician does not feel they are professionally competent to take cervical smears they should either stop taking smears or arrange retraining.

NFW March 09