Design, implement and assure screening programmes
Independent quality assurance for national and regional screening programmes, where risk is population-level and invisible until it isn't.
National and regional screening programmes carry risk that's systematic and often invisible until something goes wrong. PHLS provides independent quality assurance across programme design, pathway review, and failsafe auditing, working directly with programme leads, commissioners, and public health teams to identify where assurance is thin and how to close the gap in practice.
What we do:
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Programme design and commissioning support
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Pathway reviewFailsafe auditing
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Standardisation across multi-site programmes
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The same approach applies wherever complex health or clinical delivery carries population-level risk, not only in screening
How we work:
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Desktop policy and evidence review
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Stakeholder workshops and engagement
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Face to face or virtual
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A variety of QI tools to choose from
Case study - developing a quality assurance framework
Challenge: A health ministry had quality assurance mechanisms in place across its national screening programmes, but applied inconsistently, with different teams working to different definitions, variable capability, and good practice not systematically shared.
Approach: We developed a unifying framework that standardised definitions, consolidated what was working, and created the conditions for consistent QA across all pathways.
Outcome: We continue to chair one of the programme's QA committees and have returned to support Cervical Cancer Elimination.