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Cervical Screening Recalls

How to contact due patients in bulk via the recall contact list

Screening Criteria Eligibility

Cervical Smear test is typically performed in General Practice by the practice nurse or doctors. It is typically funded for a large part of your enrolled population. This page will highlight the process for recalling women due for their cervical screening.

Free routine cervical screening, regardless of whether an HPV test or cytology is used, is available if they are:

  • aged 30 years and over and have never been screened

  • aged 70 to 74 years and have never been screened

  • aged 30 years and over and it has been 5 years or more since the last cytology, or 7 years or more since the last HPV test

  • aged 70 to 74 years and have not had 2 consecutive normal cervical cytology results between 62 to 69 years, or a 'HPV' not detected' result in the 5 years prior to age 70

  • Māori and Pacific wāhine aged 25 to 69 years

  • aged 25 to 69 and hold a Community Services Card. 

 

Who contacts patients?

For Cervical Screening:

  • General Practice is the main provider of Cervical Smear testing
  • Patients are recalled from the practice when they become due.
  • In some cases, local healthcare providers may also contact eligible patients to support participation

It is important to regularly send recalls texts to patients when they are due for their next screening. In Medtech Evolution, using the recall contact lists, you can quickly and easily do this in bulk. We recommend doing this each month.

The role of the general practice

General practices play a direct and trusted role in delivering Cervical Smear testing.

Practices are typical required to:

  • Perform the recall function to bring in eligible women for their tests
  • Provide information and answer questions
  • Reassure patients about what screening involves
  • Provide clinical follow-up and ongoing care if a screening result is positive


How to Recall your patients with Vensa on Medtech Evolution

Instructions for using Recall-Contact List
This will assume that you have your recall records up to date, you may recall patients one by one or you may choose to recall patients in bulk from the recall contact list:

1. Run CBIT report

In order for recalls to be sent correctly, it is recommend to run a quick CBIT report to see if there are any patients that have an CX inbox document but no CX screening entry in their file.Review any entries and update as needed.


2. Creating an CX outbox document

For initial setup, we need to create and outbox document/text template for this. Follow this process here to create and outbox document. Please note that for any outbox documents used with the recall contact list, the setup format needs to be 'SMS (S)', not 'Text (T)' like usually.

Message Template Draft:
Hi [PAT_USUALNAME], Our records show you are due for cervical screening. Learn about the importance of Cervical Screening here timetocervicalscreen.nz Please phone to book or to discuss your options. [LOC_NAME] [LOC_DAY_PHONE]

 

3. Attaching the Outbox Document to the Recall

Once your outbox document is set up, you need to attach it do the cervical smear recall. Head to OPTIONS > RECALL SCREENING > SCREENING TERMS. Select the CX Cervical Smear Recall. On the 'SMS Doc' option, choose the outbox document you have created and save.

 

4. Sending a text message to patients due for their screening

Once the outbox document has been created and attached to the Cervical Smear recall, you can now use the recall contact list to send CX recalls in bulk to patients who are due.

  1. On the HOME menu, select RECALL CONTACT.
  2. Choose the date range, Type: Screening and Code: Cervical Smear. You can also choose to exclude patients who have already been contacted. Click OK.

  3. Review the list - Once you are happy to send the bulk text, choose the 'SEND SMS' option at the top. This will automatically send the text to all patients with a valid NZ mobile number on the list - patient may receive this message via text message, whatsapp or secure message (WIP) .
    Patients with no mobile number need to be contacted via email or letter instead.

Please note: Vensa’s next version of the recall automation tool (WIP) will give you the ability to schedule these Cervical Smear recalls so they are automatically sent at a set frequency (e.g. every 2 weeks or every month etc) to targeted populations. Please ensure your practice classifications are updated and in alignment with the national screening register.



This page is provided for general information only. While we aim to keep content accurate and up to date, we do not guarantee completeness or accuracy. Screening programmes, eligibility, and delivery may change. For the most current and official information, please refer to Te Whatu Ora at info.health.nz.

References: https://info.health.nz/health-topics/keeping-healthy/cancer-screening/cervical-screening