{"id":7471,"date":"2026-04-07T11:11:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T10:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/?p=7471"},"modified":"2026-04-07T11:11:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T10:11:45","slug":"screening-its-complicated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/screening-its-complicated\/","title":{"rendered":"Screening: It\u2019s Complicated"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another Successful Centre for Evidence and Values in Healthcare Meeting<\/h2>\n

The second meeting of the Centre for Evidence and Values in healthcare (CEVH) was held on 5th<\/sup> February 2026 in St Andrews. It may have been a miserably cold and damp day outside – but inside, the sold-out event was buzzing.\u00a0 With delegates from near and far, from healthcare professionals, patients and lay people, academics, policymakers, students, philosophers, people working in the charity sector and government advisors – all made the event rich with perspectives, passion, knowledge and experiences.<\/p>\n

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It was a full house at Parliament Hall for the CEVH meeting.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the University of St Andrews, Dr Margaret McCartney, Director of CEVH, together with Professor Frank Sullivan, Professor of Primary Care Medicine, opened the day by introducing what screening is and is not, and summarising why screening is \u2018complicated\u2019 by sharing the many and varied issues in the screening arena – that delegates had highlighted prior to the event.<\/p>\n

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Professor Frank Sullivan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The keynote presentation \u201cStories from 30 years of screening: creating order out of chaos\u201d was delivered by Dr Angela Raffle, the leading international expert in screening who has shaped UK policy.\u00a0 Angela\u2019s presentation set the scene for two major themes of the day: first, that an effective screening was not just about doing a test. Instead, good quality screening is about giving people good quality information, effective choice, high quality tests, delivery of results and actions as needed. In other words, it should be a programme, and one that is evidenced, organised and managed properly; and second, the UK National Screening Committee is essential to effective and rational screening.<\/p>\n

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Dr Angela Raffle delivered the keynote presentation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Angela went on to host a \u2018mini-masterclass\u2019.\u00a0 This was usefully preceded by a precis of all the essential statistics delivered by Robin Alexander, a medical statistician. Robin explained the sometimes confusing terminology \u2013 perfect preparation for the \u2018masterclass\u2019.\u00a0 Angela asked the audience to put themselves in the position of being public health officials, charged with making decisions about whether to introduce a new screening programme. They were given data and questions to answer, resulting in great debate at each table, and a lively feedback session.<\/p>\n

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Dr Margaret McCartney (left) and Robin Alexander (right) outline the complexities of terminology used in medical statistics.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Underpinning the ethos of the CEVH is engaging with a variety of disciplines ensuring different viewpoints and perspectives \u2013 rather than just viewing challenging issues through a medical lens.\u00a0 As such, there were presentations from: Professor Kevin Orr, Professor of Leadership and Governance in the Business School, University of St Andrews; Dr Emily Postan, Reader and Chancellors\u2019 Fellow in Bioethics, University of Edinburgh; and from the sharp-end of the policymaking arena, Dr Tasmin Sommerfield, Consultant in Public Health Medicine and National Clinical Advisor for Screening in Scotland, and Richard Foggo, Co-Director of Population Health with the Scottish government.<\/p>\n

Professor Kevin Orr spoke about narratives of screening and how this is effectively a \u2018contested space\u2019 where scientific legitimacy is not always clear. It was a brilliant insight into how we have to think of the best ways to helpfully inform people about the science of screening \u2013 using examples from the US, he suggested \u2018story telling\u2019 may be more effective.<\/p>\n

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Professor Kevin Orr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr Emily Postan, asked the audience to consider a philosophical approach considering the different meanings that people can ascribe to test results – may not just be about knowledge but also crucially about the impact on their \u2018identity\u2019.<\/p>\n

Dr Tasmin Somerfield explained the way that policy is made in the UK and Scotland. This was a very helpful explanation of the checks and balances that go into the system in order to ensure that it moves with the evidence.\u00a0 Richard Foggo shared key challenges in screening in policymaking and reflected how this event was so useful in offering a forum for people to discuss and debate together.\u00a0 They both acknowledged, we all want the same thing – better healthcare – and there is much to learn from understanding different perspectives.<\/p>\n

Overall, the day demonstrated that \u2018Screening – really is<\/u> complicated\u2019.<\/p>\n

To get a flavour of the day, watch the video.<\/a><\/p>\n

Testimonials from attendees included:<\/p>\n

\u201cSuperb day. Talks both inspirational and informative. Really useful networking opportunities\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>\u201cVery wide-ranging talks with absolute experts\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cGreater understanding of the subject and the limits of it so will be more informed in my activity\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>\u201cEmpowerment to address these issues with friends, family, colleagues and policy makers\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With grateful thanks to The Della Fish Foundation<\/a> for supporting this event and the Centre for Evidence and Values in Healthcare.<\/p>\n

The next event on June 19th<\/sup> in Edinburgh is entitled \u201cThe business of healthcare \u2013 ethical issues for doctors, vets and dentists<\/strong>\u201d. Registration is now open<\/a> for this event. Find more information on the CEVH<\/a> website.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another Successful Centre for Evidence and Values in Healthcare Meeting The second meeting of the Centre for Evidence and Values in healthcare (CEVH) was held on 5th February 2026 in St Andrews. It may have been a miserably cold and damp day outside – but inside, the sold-out event was buzzing.\u00a0 With delegates from near…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1458,10],"tags":[1459,1446,358,1354,1460,907],"class_list":["post-7471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-centre-for-evidence-and-values-in-healthcare","category-news","tag-centre-for-evidence-and-values-in-healthcare","tag-cevh","tag-dr-margaret-mccartney","tag-dr-robin-alexander","tag-meeting","tag-prof-frank-sullivan"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 02:15:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7471"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7484,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7471\/revisions\/7484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}