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Table 2 List of essential criteria that define organized cancer screening identified by 24 experts, ranked by the proportion of experts strongly agree or agree

From: An international consensus on the essential and desirable criteria for an ‘organized’ cancer screening programme

Essential criteria selected through Delphi round 1

% (strongly agree/agree)

1. Cancer screening programme has a protocol/guideline describing at least the target population, screening intervals, screening tests, referral pathway, management of positive casesa

96

2. There is a system in place for identifying the target population

96

3. There is a system in place for inviting eligible individuals for screening

92

4. Cancer screening programme has a policy framework from the health authorities defining governance structure, financing, goals and objectives of the programmea

92

5. Performance of screening programme should be evaluated with appropriate indicators

92

6. The protocol/guideline should at least describe: monitoring and evaluation

88

7. There is a system in place for notifying the results and informing about follow up

88

8. There is a system in place for sending recall notice to the non-compliant individuals

88

9. Auditing of the programme

88

10. A specified team/organization is responsible for quality assurance/ improvement

88

11. Performance of cancer screening programme is evaluated, published and widely disseminated on a regular basisa

88

12. All activities along the screening pathway are planned, coordinated and evaluated through a quality improvement framework (quality assurance)

88

13. An evidence-based protocol/guideline developed in consensus with majority of stakeholders

83

14. An information system exists with appropriate linkages (between population databases, screening information, cancer registry, etc.) for screening implementation and evaluation

83

15. The screening programme has a provision of continued training for service providersa

83

16. Performance of screening programme should be evaluated with reference standards for the indicators

83

  1. aThe criteria have been rephrased from their original versions and the rephrased version was accepted by the experts