From 1 July 2022, the National Cervical Screening Program (NCSP) will expand screening test options, offering self-collection as a choice to all people participating in cervical screening.
These changes mean that healthcare providers may start to see an increase in the volume of requests from patients to use self-collection as an option for their Cervical Screening Test.
From 1 July 2022 all NCSP participants aged 25-74 years old will have the choice to screen using either a self-collected vaginal sample or a clinician collected sample from the cervix, accessed through a healthcare provider in both cases. Access to self-collection is currently only available for those over 30 years old whom are more than two years overdue for screening or have never screened.
To support these changes, the NCSP: Guidelines for the management of screen-detected abnormalities, screening in specific populations and investigation of abnormal vaginal bleeding (guidelines) have been reviewed and updated to support the self-collection eligibility expansion. The updated guidelines won't come into effect until 1 July 2022.
