Screening: Evidence and practice

Screening is the routine testing of populations to identify individuals who may have a particular medical condition or disease. This book covers the theory and evidence behind screening, and serves as a practical, non-technical introduction to the subject, for public health practitioners involved in all aspects of screening.

Table of Contents:
1: How screening started 2: What screening is, and is not 3: What screening does 4: Measuring what screening does 5: Implementing screening 6: Quality assuring screening programmes 7: Day to day management of screening for public health practitioners and programme managers 8: Making screening policy

About the Author :
Sir Muir Gray has been the driving force behind the transformation of screening in the UK. In the 1980s he secured £25,000 from the Department of Health to resolve the problematic cervical screening programme by harnessing the experience and commitment of pathologists, public health physicians, and gynaecologists throughout the service he transformed it into the quality assured public health programme it is today. Muir also masterminded the implementation of a nationwide breast screening programme. He then turned his attention to wider screening, setting up the National Screening Programmes which brought evidence, order and effectiveness to a disparate set of public health risk reduction programmes. Muir has also established the National Library for Health, been instrumental in helping establish the Cochrane Collaboration, and has brought accessible evidence-based information to the fingertips and desktops of all clinicians by publications such as Clinical Evidence. Dr Angela Raffle became involved in screening in 1985 when she took on responsibility for the cervical screening programme in and around Bristol and Bath. Working with Dr Elisabeth Mackenzie, she analysed the screening records for the 250,000 women in the programme. The results were worrying, demonstrating the scale of overdetection and overtreatment inherent in cervical screening. She articulated her findings, not as a polemicist from outside the programme, but as a professional involved in screening, committed to serving the women who participated. Angela became part of the National Coordinating Network, has worked on a wide range of screening policy issues for the National Screening Programmes, and has continued her commitment to teaching nationally and internationally. In Bristol she is responsible for all aspects of cancer services including the cancer screening programmes. She has also been a major player in the Smoke-free Bristol campaign and palliative care services at the end of life.

Review :
'A readable, yet encyclopaedic guide to screening: its history, its key design elements, its implementation and its policy challenges... A must read for clinicians, managers, and policy makers who would like to assist Raffle and Gray in achieving their goal: "to sort out the mess."' H Gilbert Welch, 'The more interested you are in new technologies for health screening, the more you need to read this book...By reading this book, you will then understand the unstoppable nature of screening, and the obligation to seek for research-based and controlled optimum clinical practice for early detection in high-risk persons.' Jan Willem Coebergh, 'Whilst gently guiding the novice into this fascinating and difficult area, this unique book further manages to add to the knowledge base of more seasoned health professionals by the in-depth coverage of the subject matter and the detailed analysis of the failures and successes of the past, both within the UK and further afield.' From the Foreward by Sir Liam Donaldson,