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Queensland Health Pap Smear Register

What is the Pap Smear Register?
The Queensland Health Pap Smear Register (PSR) commenced operations on 8th February 1999. This Register is a confidential “opt-off” central database of Pap smears and related follow-up tests (including HPV DNA results) for women in Queensland.

The Queensland Health Pap Smear Register will:

• send a welcome letter to women when their data is first entered onto the Register
• send women a reminder letter if they are overdue for their Pap smear
• provide a safety net to ensure the appropriate follow-up of women if they have an abnormal pap smear
• keep a history of women’s results to assist in the assessment of Pap smears
• assist in providing a better understanding of screening participation, cervical abnormalities, their prevention and effective treatment.

The establishment and purpose of the Pap Smear Register is provided for in the Public Health Act 2005. Under this legislation Pap smear providers are required to inform women of the Pap Smear Register, the benefits it offers, and to explain to women their rights to “opt-off” the Register.

Can I get a copy of a woman's Pap smear history?
Yes. A Pap smear provider may access a woman's Pap smear history as long as they are registered with the Pap Smear Register and have been provided a password - see below.
Registered providers can phone the Pap Smear Register requesting information (phone: 1800 777 790). Staff will verify details before giving out any information about a woman. Under legislation Pap Smear Register staff are not permitted to provide addresss details without a woman's consent.

How to obtain a password from the PSR for the purposes of seeking patient screening history
This is a one-off process were:

1. The Pap Smear Provider (PSP) completes and returns the PSR password registration form to the Pap Smear Register(PSR)
2. The Pap Smear Register verifies the application and issues the Pap Smear Provider a password

What if a patient chooses to 'opt-off' the Register?
When a woman advises her Pap smear provider she does not want her details recorded on the PSR, the Pap smear provider is required to:

• place a 'Not for PS Register' sticker or write 'Not for PSR' on the Pathology Request Form each time a Pap smear or related test is ordered. The stickers can be found in the Queensland Health Pap Smear Register kit. This kit can be ordered online.
• ask the woman to sign the 'Exclusion from the Pap Smear Register' form from the pad provided (also contained in the Queensland Health Pap Smear Register kit). The Pap smear provider keeps the bottom slip as a record of the woman’s decision and attaches this to the woman's medical record. The top half of the exclusion form is given to the woman as a record of her decision. Providers are asked to ensure the woman understands she will not receive the Register reminder or follow-up service letters.
  Women, who have previously 'opted-off', should be given the opportunity to join the PSR at each subsequent appointment for a Pap smear or related follow-up test. When a pathology laboratory receives a Pathology Request Form which indicates the woman does not want her details recorded on the PSR, the pathology laboratory will ensure the record is not transferred to the PSR.

Women, who have previously 'opted-off', should be given the opportunity to join the PSR at each subsequent appointment for a Pap smear or related follow-up test. When a pathology laboratory receives a Pathology Request Form which indicates the woman does not want her details recorded on the PSR, the pathology laboratory will ensure the record is not transferred to the PSR.

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