Latest National Cervical Screening Program performance indicator results
Performance indicator (PI) | Previous period | Current period | Trend‡ |
|---|---|---|---|
PI 1 - Participation† Number of participants aged 25–74 screened in a 5.5-year period between 1 January 2020 and 30 June 2025 as a percentage of eligible females in the population | 78.6% | 77.9% | No change |
PI 2 - Response to invitation Percentage of invitees aged 25–74 invited to screen or rescreen between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 who screened within 6 months | 24.2% | 37.4% | Improved |
PI 3 – Rescreening Percentage of participants aged 25–69 whose screening HPV test between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2018 did not detect oncogenic HPV who rescreened between 4 years 9 months and 5 years 3 months | No data reported for this performance indicator | 39.9% | Not applicable |
PI 4 - Screening results Percentage of screening episodes in participants aged 25–74 in each risk category between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 | 92.5% low risk 5.0% intermediate risk 1.6% higher risk | 92.1% low risk 5.0% intermediate risk 1.6% higher risk | No change |
PI 5 - Correlation of screening results Level of agreement between screening results in participants aged 25–74 between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023 and subsequent histology test results within 6 months | 71.6% high-grade+ LBC tests with high-grade+ histology within 6 months | 70.7% high-grade+ LBC tests with high-grade+ histology within 6 months | No change |
PI 6 – Screening HPV test positivity Percentage of valid screening HPV tests that are positive for oncogenic HPV in participants aged 25–74 between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 | 1.4% oncogenic HPV 16/18 5.6% oncogenic HPV (not 16/18) 7.0% oncogenic HPV (any) | 1.4% oncogenic HPV 16/18 5.9% oncogenic HPV (not 16/18) 7.3% oncogenic HPV (any) | No change |
PI 7 – Cervical cancer diagnosed after a low risk screening test result Percentage of participants aged 25–74 who are diagnosed with cervical carcinoma within 5 years of a screening HPV test that did not detect oncogenic HPV | No data reported for this performance indicator | No data reported for this performance indicator | Not applicable |
PI 8 - LBC test in self-collection participants positive for oncogenic HPV (not 16/18) Percentage of participants aged 25–74 who have an LBC test after a self-collected screening HPV test positive for oncogenic HPV (not 16/18) between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 | 75.5% within 3 months 85.1% within 6 months | 76.3% within 3 months 85.7% within 6 months | No change |
PI 9 – Colposcopy in self-collection participants positive for oncogenic HPV 16/18 Percentage of participants aged 25–74 who have a colposcopy after a self-collected screening HPV test positive for oncogenic HPV 16/18 between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 | 61.4% within 3 months 81.5% within 6 months | 61.0% within 3 months 80.3% within 6 months | No change |
PI 10 - Adherence to recommendation for follow-up† Percentage of participants aged 25–74 who have an intermediate risk screening episode between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023 who have a follow-up HPV test between 9 and 15 months Percentage of participants aged 25–74 who have an intermediate risk follow-up episode between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023 who have a follow-up HPV test between 9 and 15 months | 55.4% after screening episode 62.7% after follow-up episode | 61.9% after screening episode 71.3% after follow-up episode | Improved |
PI 11 - Follow-up results† Percentage of follow-up episodes in participants aged 25–74 in each risk category between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 | first follow-up 38.5% low risk 55.7% intermediate risk 4.1% higher risk second follow-up 30.2% low risk 69.6% higher risk | first follow-up 39.7% low risk 54.1% intermediate risk 4.0% higher risk second follow-up 29.9% low risk 69.8% higher risk | No change |
PI 12 - Colposcopy rate† Percentage of participants aged 25–74 who have a screening or follow-up episode result that places them at higher risk of significant cervical abnormality between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023 who attend colposcopy within 3 months | 44.2% | 47.0% | Improved |
PI 13 – Time to colposcopy† Participants aged 25–74 who have a screening or follow-up episode result that places them at higher risk of significant cervical abnormality, the time between the screening or follow-up result and colposcopy, measured as median and 90th percentile values, as well as within specified timeframes | median time to colposcopy 87 days | median time to colposcopy 79 days | Improved |
PI 14 - Biopsy rate Percentage of colposcopies in participants aged 25–74 in which a biopsy was performed between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 | 40.2% | 38.7% | Worse |
PI 15 - Yield of high-grade abnormalities on biopsy among participants who attend colposcopy after higher risk screening results† Percentage of participants aged 25–74 with a higher risk screening or follow-up episode result who had a colposcopy between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023 who were diagnosed with a high-grade abnormality or cervical cancer on histology within 6 months of colposcopy | 22.3% | 17.9% | Worse |
PI 16 – Positive predictive value of colposcopy† Percentage of participants aged 25–74 with a higher risk screening or follow-up episode result who had a colposcopic impression of HSIL, glandular abnormality (adenocarcinoma in situ) or cancer between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023 who were diagnosed with a high-grade abnormality or cervical cancer on histology within 6 months of colposcopy | 69.9%
| 66.0% | Worse |
PI 17a – High-grade cervical abnormality detection rate† Number of participants aged 25–74 with a high-grade abnormality detected on histology between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 per 1,000 participants screened | 7.8 per 1,000 participants screened | 7.2 per 1,000 participants screened | No change |
PI 17b - Cervical cancer detection rate† Number of participants aged 25–74 with cervical carcinoma detected on histology between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 per 1,000 participants screened | 0.5 per 1,000 participants screened | 0.5 per 1,000 participants screened | No change |
PI 18 – Cervical cancers diagnosed by time since last screen Number of females aged 25–74 diagnosed with cervical carcinoma between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020 categorised into never screened, lapsed screening, and recently screened based on time since last screen | No data reported for this performance indicator | No data reported for this performance indicator | Not applicable |
PI 19 - Incidence of cervical cancer Number of new cases of cervical cancer in females aged 25–74 between 1 January 2021 and 31 December 2021 per 100,000 estimated resident population | 11.4 new cases per 100,000 women | 11.0 new cases per 100,000 women | No change |
PI 20 – Mortality from cervical cancer Number of deaths from cervical cancer in females aged 25–74 between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023 per 100,000 estimated resident population | 2.5 deaths per 100,000 women | 2.5 deaths per 100,000 women | No change |
† Specifications and/or methodology have changed in 2025; previous period should not be compared with data reported in the National Cervical Screening Monitoring report 2024.
‡ A difference between previous period and current period of >1.0 is required for a trend to be classified as improved or worse. Note that an increase can be an unfavourable trend and a decrease can be a favourable trend.
Note: Trend only refers to the change between previous period and current period. Specifications and/or methodology for many performance indicators has changed since the National Cervical Screening Monitoring report 2024; for this reason, the data reported for the previous period will not match the data reported in that report but have instead been recalculated using the specifications and/or methodology used in this report. More details at in the Technical notes.