Functioning of the Cancer Screening Committee
The Cancer Screening Committee follows the nationally and internationally established guidelines for assessing medical procedures (“health technology assessment”). The committee makes an assessment and formulates its recommendation based of a systematic evaluation of evidence. Recommendations for or against screening measures are developed in four phases and then communicated.
Topic Identification and Selection
The Head Office accepts suggestions for topics at any time. The decision on which topics are dealt with by the Cancer Screening Committee is determined by the Responsible Body.
Scoping
The Expert Committee appoints a mandate holder to undertake the Scoping activities. This phase serves to precisely define the topic and to substantiate the methodology. The scoping report will be sent to selected, topic-specific Stakeholders in response to a consultation and will serve as the basis for the Assessment.
Assessment
The Cancer Screening Committee appoints an Assessment Team to undertake the systematic collection and assessment of the available evidence (GRADE Evidence to Decision (EtD) frameworks).
Appraisal
Topic-specific Stakeholders are invited to comment on the assessment report. Using a structured, transparent procedure, the Cancer Screening Committee then performs an appraisal, based on the assessment report and formulates a recommendation.
Communication
The Cancer Screening Committee publishes the reports (Scoping, Assessment and Appraisal) and the recommendations.