Smear Test results....would you be worried or am I just being silly?

[cositjustisok]

I went for my smear test on Tues 13th Jan and received my results this morning (shocked at the speed of this) The main heading said "Your smear results are normal" Then in the body of the report it said my recall was in one years time due to previous results.
I was immediately concerned that I had been recalled before the 3 years that I have always had. I phoned my surgery who where wonderful and within an hour had it all sorted out. Someone in the admin side where the results are done ...had read the code for a 3 yearly recall but pressed the wrong keys and the standard letter was given a one year recall instead...hope this is not too confusing .....all mixed up at the minute. Therefore if the code for a normal recall was for admin to press R3 say they pressed R1 for recall in one year.
The nurse at my surgery who happens to be the one who took the smear...had spoken to them and realised this is what happened. She also had more indepth results of mine and assurred me my results are a normal cell reading, cytology normal and a negative smear result. I am still worrying though that I will be the one with cocked up results and it is a recall for one year...Because these things are heard of all the time in the news...(though not recently,but in the past)
My question is should I go for another smear test or should I jsut be content with an admin error scaring the pants of me all morning.

Many thanks...stressed and worried.

Oh dear, it is worrying isn't it. But honestly my dear, if they have checked the cytology and it's normal, it just is that, normal.

The chances of three people getting it wrong: the person reading the original cytology, the administrator and the nurse are very low, and the fact that she or he pressed the wrong recall button. Well how many times have you written something repetitive and messed it up?

Be calm my dear - if you are really concerned why not go back in two years?

Thankyou for that Whomovedmychocolate..I know you are right....thankyou for taking the time to help me.

Hello
The difference between a 36 month recall and a 12 month recall is the codes 2A and 2R. So it is rather easy to enter the wrong letter. In many areas the results are sent from the lab to the recall centre electronically but some areas do them manually. If the nurse has checked with them and you've always had 3 yearly ones before them it should be ok.
I work in a screening lab btw. Hth

Oh and we're trying to achieve a 14 day turnaround time fir cervical screening results by April 2010 , it's a national target.
The lab where I work around 95% of our results should be received within 14 days.

That's 14 days from the date you have the test to the date you get the result letter as well.

That's quite worrying if it's an easy mistake to make the other way round isn't it?

14 days would be great wouldn't it Bella. The six weeks really rag if you're worried.

If someones had abnormal results before the system that the results get entered onto at the call/recall agency (who send the letters) the system would flag the 2A for checking. These would them be checked with the lab to ensure the correct recall us given. It doesn't happen very often but there are checks in place in case it does, as we are human.

Well in 15 months time, supposedly all the labs etc should be achieving it. It will be difficult for some places as they're understaffed. We've put in a lot of work over the past year to get to this point. Hopefully the ladies in our area are pleased. Not nice being worried I understand.

Thankyou Bellanoir ...I really do appreciate you taking the time to post some "inside information"...I do understand mistakes can easily happen and just thankful I got it sorted so quickly. Very impressed with the whole 14 days thingy..well done for all the hard work all you people in the cervical screening labs etc have done to get to this point. It is a major achievement. Feeling a bit calmer about it this morning but as I am a health anxious person i know it will take me a few days to start feeling better and sdtop thinking about it constantly!!!!. Thanks to all who have posted

That's reassuring Bellanoir. I got the glandular type last year and it was a mnetter who worked in screening who explained what it meant. My gp didn't even know! I'm glad things are double checked.

Glad you feel better cosit, it is horrible when you have have health anxiety. It's hard to keep things in perspective.

Thankyou Guadalupe. I am feeling ok today and so so pleased the letter arrived on Friday and did not arrive on Saturday (as usually does with me) then I would have been in a tailspin cos would of had to wait till Monday to get some answers. Wish i was not so anxious about results. Anyway relaxed last night with a couple of glasses of wine and sorted my head out ...well a little anyway.

Thanks everybody