Cervical Screening Recalls Suggested Recall Cycle First recall: set for 33 months – or 3 months before the cervical screening is due. First contact: Txt message, then set a recall for 3 weeks. Second and third contact: Phone the patient. If no contact can be made: Set alert that the patient is due for a cervical smear and to ask if this can be booked at the next appointment. Set a recall for 1 year.
Suggested Recall Techniques • • • •
Consider asking your patients if they would be happy to receive reminders via email, you could add this as a third contact point. Many practices are no longer posting reminder letters due to cost and time to deliver. Setting your first recall to 33 months allows more time to engage the patient before they become overdue. Ensure your team are clear on your internal process.
Referring to Health and Wellness Services for Outreach If the patient is a priority patient, (see criteria below) you may choose to refer them to the Health and Wellness Services at this stage for outreach. Use the BPAC eReferral form to complete the referral. If you refer to the outreach service before the patient is due, the team can screen them in before they become overdue and this will contribute to your achievement statistics for the cervical screening target. Priority patients are in the age range 20 to 69 years and are: • Ethnicity Māori, Pacific or Asian (level 2 ethnicity codes 21 to 44) OR • Any other woman between 30 and 69 years who; • has never had a smear, or • is overdue for a smear for >5 years You may also consider using your High Needs Discretionary funding to assist non-priority patients who have financial barriers, transport difficulties, or other extenuating circumstances, to booking a cervical smear appointment. You can also refer these patients to the Health and Wellness Service.
Cervical Screening Recalls
August 2019
WBOP PHO