Almost a million cervical cancer screening notifications not sent out, review finds
A review of New Zealand's national cervical cancer screening program revealed that nearly one million notifications were not sent due to system design flaws and data management issues. The report highlights failures in reaching eligible participants, particularly those categorized as inactive or high-priority.
Why it matters
Systemic failures in public health screening programs can lead to delayed diagnoses and increased health risks for the population, necessitating urgent administrative reform.
Almost a million notifications did not get sent to people eligible for cancer screening due to flaws in the national cervical cancer screening programme, a review has found.
As a result, the system was not providing a comprehensive safety net.
A national register was launched in September 2023, along with a change to HPV primary screening instead of a smear test.
A review by a Health New Zealand expert panel, released on Monday, said the register was working satisfactorily in many ways but the clinical safety of the register could not be assured in some situations.
The register was not making contact with everyone eligible for screening due to the way it was designed, as well as unintentional flaws in the way it was built, the review said.
More than 800,000 notifications for screening were not triggered and another 160,000 notifications were triggered but not sent as of June 2025.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in