UK National Screening Committee

The UK National Screening Committee (NSC) is chaired by the Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland and advises Ministers, the devolved National Assemblies and the Scottish Parliament on all aspects of screening policy. It has two sub-groups dealing with antenatal and child health screening issues. In forming its proposals, the NSC draws on the latest research evidence and the skills of specially convened multi-disciplinary expert groups, which always include patient and service user representatives.

The NSC assesses proposed new screening programmes against a set of internationally recognised criteria covering the condition, the test, the treatment options and effectiveness and acceptability of the screening programme. Assessing programmes in this way is intended to ensure that they do more good than harm at a reasonable cost. In 1996, the NHS was instructed not to introduce any new screening programmes until the NSC had reviewed their effectiveness. This was communicated in EL96(110).

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