Why the UK NSC is needed now as much as 25 years ago
Reflections from Dr Robert Sherriff about the early days of the UK NSC and why it's just as important today as when it started in 1996.
Dr Robert Sherriff
Robert Sherriff started working with the UK National Screening Committee in 1996. He led on developing the first set of criteria for appraising the viability of population screening programmes. Following time as a Consultant in Public Health Medicine, he became Director of Public Health (DPH) in Buckinghamshire and then Medical Director / DPH for the Thames Valley Strategic Health Authority based in Oxford. Robert returned to screening in 2006 to work on the implementation of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) screening in England. In 2013, Robert joined Public Health England and became the lead for the 11 national screening programmes in England. These included the cancer screening programmes for breast, bowel and cervical and the antenatal and newborn programmes. Subsequently, Robert joined the Department of Health and Social Care as the lead for screening in the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.