Screening

Screening identifies apparently healthy people who may be at increased risk of a disease or condition, enabling earlier treatment or informed decisions.

National population screening programmes are implemented in the NHS on the advice of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), which makes independent, evidence-based recommendations to ministers in the 4 UK countries.

Public Health England (PHE) previously advised the government and the NHS so that England has safe, high quality screening programmes that reflect the best available evidence and the UK NSC recommendations. PHE also developed standards and provided specific services that helped the local NHS implement and run screening services consistently across the country.