UK National Screening Committee: 25 years of recommendations

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is celebrating 25 years of making evidence-based recommendations on population screening.

Over that time it has had a profound impact on health screening in the UK, as well as being a respected international leader in this area.

The UK NSC recommended national screening programmes that have:

saved tens of thousands of lives

prevented huge amounts of serious illness

helped millions of people make better informed decisions about their health

As Professor Bob Steele, current chair of the committee, has said:

Thanks to our wonderful NHS, I believe our population screening programmes here in the UK are second to none, and long may that continue.

Read our report on 25 years of the UK NSC for more information on its achievements and challenges over that time.

You can read a blog article from Dr Robert Sherriff, who helped to set up the committee, reflecting on why the UK NSC is needed now as much as ever.

Dr Angela Raffle has also written a blog article about how the UK NSC has transformed screening for the better.

Watch out for podcasts from Sir Muir Gray over the coming weeks when he will talk about the early days of the breast and cervical screening programmes.

You can subscribe to the UK NSC blog to make sure you do not miss a post.