Enhancing Preventative Care by Improving Rates of Cervical Cancer Screening

About the practice

Greenbank Medical Group is located in Greenbank, a semi rural suburb in the City of Logan. The practice serves a broad patient population, including many young families and older adults. There are four GPs and two Nurses with around 4000 active patients.

The practice is located in a culturally and linguistically diverse area, and some of the GPs speak languages other than English, including Bengali, Sinhalese and Farsi.

What inspired the practice to complete this QI activity?

We are two Nurses that have a strong interest in women’s health promotion and early screening for preventable cancers. In our experience, cervical screening is often overlooked due to time constraints or invasive testing methods so increasing awareness and promotion of the self-collect testing method was a huge motivation for this project.

The challenge

As Nurses, we found that many patients were overdue with their cervical screening test and oftentimes overdue reminders that were flagged in patient files were not being addressed during consultations. Hesitancy with male GP’s performing CST was also a potential issue.

What we did

• We utilized Primary Sense to search patients with upcoming appointments that were flagged as having overdue cervical screening tests. Where possible, we called patients to the treatment room prior to their appointment to discuss overdue CST screening, discussed the option of self-collect testing and encouraged them to discuss with Dr.

• We discussed our Cervical Cancer Screening QI activity during our team meeting, encouraged Drs to follow up on overdue screenings and discuss self-collection where suitable.

• We discussed cervical screening testing during health assessments when suitable.

Results and impact

Our goal was to improve the overall % of up to date cervical screening results in patients files (QIM09) by 3% in 3 months, between August and December 2025.  Our goal was achieved, with 58 patient charts reviewed and updated, and 32 pro-active conversations had with patients. 21 patients went on to complete the self-collect test. Our QIM09 went from 51.7% to 55%.

What will the practice do to ensure this becomes business as usual 

We will continue to follow up on overdue cervical screening tests, have opportunistic discussions with patients regarding CST and continue with the promotion of self-collect testing.

What can other practices do to participate?

Our key message would be the awareness and promotion of self-collect cervical screening testing. Many patients are still unaware of this option and may be putting off their CST due to previous bad experiences with traditional testing. Encourage your Drs to offer self-collect testing to suitable patients.