An audit of cervical cancer deaths in Nottingham.

Death certificates were reviewed and 57 women were identified whose primary cause of death was cervical cancer. Their cervical smear records were reviewed from laboratory files. Only nine had participated in the cervical cancer screening programme before the diagnosis of cervical cancer was made. One woman had an abnormal smear as a result of cervical screening but failed to attend for follow-up. The problem of false negative smears is also addressed and the value of review of negative smears for the purposes of cytology audit is emphasized.