Manchester Cytology Centre has a strong research and audit base, taking part in numerous multi-disciplinary meetings. The centre has also been part of the ARTISTIC (A Randomised Trial in Screening to Improve Cytology) and MAVARIC (Manual Assessment Versus Automated Reading in Cytology) trials.
Our staff members are all fully qualified to professional and NHS Cervical Screening standards in the screening and reporting of cervical cytology.
All staff regularly participate in the Regional External Quality Assurance Scheme that is run by the North West Cervical Screening Quality Assurance Reference Centre, with senior non-medical staff and medical staff also participating in a non-gynaecological cytology external quality assessment scheme.
Following the recommendation by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), to introduce liquid-based cytology as the prime sampling method for the NHS Cervical Screening Programme, Manchester Cytology Centre is now fully converted to process and screen SurePathTM samples. This has been greatly aided by the affiliation and close links the centre has with the North West Cytology Training Centre.
We have well-established systems and several years of experience with direct referral to colposcopy and currently operate a direct referral programme to 13 colposcopy units and liaise with LASCA, Manchester and North Cumbria screening agencies to generate direct referral result letters.
For full details of all our services, including specimen collection and transportation, please refer to our Gynaecological (PDF 894KB), Non-gynaecological (PDF, 1.51MB) and Synovial Fluid Cytology (PDF, 860KB) user guides.
