Please note - From 1st April 2013, ESQA will be part of Public Health England.

The Quality Assurance Reference Centres (QARCs) are NHS organisations whose role is to monitor performance and quality across the screening programmes, and to promote and lead the continual pursuit of excellence in these services.

East of England Screening QARC, based in Cambridge, covers the population of the East of England Strategic Health Authority (formed from the three previous Strategic Health Authorities: Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire SHA, Norfolk, Suffolk & Cambridgeshire SHA and Essex SHA) with a resident population of approx 5.7 million.

In the East of England region there are

• 13 Primary Care trusts who commission services
• 3 Call/Recall offices who invite patients for screening & send results
• 8 Bowel Screening Centres
• 11 Breast screening units
• 12 Cytology laboratories & 18 Colposcopy units.

ESQA monitors performance data from the screening programmes across the region to ensure that clincial standard are maintained and works closely with PCTs and Acute Trusts to foster ongoing improvements.

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Read our 2009-10 Annual Report