NHS England Midlands and East (West Midlands) Cervical Cytology Screening

NHS England Midlands and East (West Midlands) would like to invite Providers to respond to a market assessment exercise to enable Commissioners to review and assess the scope, specification and market interest of two Cervical Screening Schemes to increase access and coverage across the NHS England - Midlands and East (West Midlands) footprint.

Scheme 1 - Community Cytology Service for Birmingham Scheme 2 - Community Cytology Service for West Midlands (excluding Birmingham) The aim of Scheme 1 (CCS) would be to increase cervical screening access and coverage for patients registered with the 20% lowest performing practices in Birmingham.

We envisage that this will include: • Provision of routine cervical screening to eligible women • Identification and support of vulnerable / hard to reach women and follow-up of non-attenders • Improved access to cervical screening via community-based clinics • Engagement with General Practice sample takers to offer education/training, mentorship and peer support with sample taking. • Engagement with key employers in the Birmingham area to promote the importance of cervical screening in workplaces.

The aim of scheme 2 is to commission additional cervical screening services in established settings to improve access and increase cervical screening coverage across the NHS England West Midlands footprint.

We envisage that this will include the following elements: o Provision of routine cervical screening o Identification and support of vulnerable and hard to reach women; follow-up of non-attenders o Provision of improved access to cervical screening via community based clinics o Partnership working with existing providers to increase their coverage o Delivery of improved cervical screening coverage by Local Authority area to ≥75% coverage.

It is envisaged that the Provider will: 1. be incentivised to achieve uptake rates as a priority in areas that are lowest performing in terms of cervical screening coverage.

2. work collaboratively with cervical screening services offered by GP practices and Sexual Health Services The CCS is likely to consist of a small multidisciplinary team of nurses with expertise in sexual health and primary care cervical sample taking.

The CCS will be responsible for taking cervical screening samples, following up non-attenders and improving access to cervical screening via community-based clinics.

The CCS will use a culturally appropriate approach and language appropriate communication.