Cancer Care Ontario's Dr. Linda Rabeneck, Vice-President, Prevention and Cancer Control; Dr. Joan Murphy, Clinical Lead, Ontario Cervical Screening Program; and Dr. Suzanne Strasberg, Provincial Lead, Primary Care, issued the following update to practitioners on September 20, 2013.

We are pleased to share with you an important update about the enhancement of the Ontario Cervical Screening Program (OCSP). 

As you are aware, the cervical screening program enhancement is underway, beginning with letters in August to women who have recently had a Pap test. These letters let women know about our program, informed them of our privacy guidelines and gave them the choice to opt out of receiving correspondence from Cancer Care Ontario (CCO). 

Starting September 19th, CCO will begin sending result letters to women age 21 and over who have recently had a Pap test (but only to those who did not opt out of the correspondence program). 

In the coming months, CCO will also send reminder letters to women aged 21 to 69 who were screened 35 months ago to let them know they are due for re-screening. Invitation letters will then be sent to women aged 30 to 69 years who were not screened within the prior 36 months. These letters will help women stay up-to-date with cervical cancer screening and encourage them to talk to their healthcare provider about screening.

In the year ahead, we will also be expanding our letters to the public for breast and colorectal cancer screening. In anticipation of successful program growth, we recognize that your laboratory may experience higher volumes associated with increased screening in Ontario. 

We will continue to provide you with updates because we believe it is important that our key partners remain informed about each phase of this work so they can adequately prepare for changes that may affect them.

If you have any questions, please call us toll-free at 1-866-662-9233 or e-mail us at primarycare@cancercare.on.ca.

For information on cervical screening guidelines or our easy-to-use clinical resources, including our newly developed mobile apps, please visit www.cancercare.on.ca/pcresources.

• forms of abuse
• zero tolerance position.
• those at risk for abuse.
• environments and areas of practice where abuse and/or boundary risks may occur or exist.
• appropriate professional boundaries.
• risks associated with crossing boundaries.
• reporting obligations
• effective abuse prevention communication skills.