Public Health Wales (PHW) screening programmes will resume sending invitations and reminders to individuals eligible for screening. Cervical Screening Wales will be the first to do so, starting from the end of June 2020.
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, several screening programmes were temporarily paused in March 2020. These included Cervical Screening Wales, Breast Test Wales, Bowel Screening Wales, Diabetic Eye Screening Wales and Wales Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening.
For cervical screening, individuals overdue a non-routine repeat screening will be the first to be invited. If conditions are deemed safe for participants and staff, invitations will then be sent to individuals overdue a routine screening on a monthly basis, followed by reminders for individuals who have missed appointments.
Later in the summer, PHW plans to invite clinical priority groups for breast and bowel screening and then for abdominal aortic aneurysm and diabetic eye screening. Other programmes such as Antenatal Screening Wales, Newborn Bloodspot Screening and Newborn Hearing Screening were not halted during the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to be delivered.
Dr Sharon Hillier, Director of Screening Division, PHW, said: "We have been in unprecedented times, and pausing the invitations for these programmes was a difficult recommendation for us to make. We are taking a staged approach to restarting screening programmes based on clinical priority, and will keep the arrangements under constant review."
