Open Exeter

Open Exeter is an IT platform used by the NHS in England and Isle of Man to deliver cervical screening and to access the Bowel Cancer Screening Service (BCSS), Breast Screening Select (BS-Select) and Breast Screening Information System (BSIS). 

The Open Exeter cervical screening functionality is being replaced by the new Cervical Screening Management System (CSMS) in 2024.

Access to Bowel Cancer Screening Service (BCSS), Breast Screening Select (BS-Select) and Breast Screening Information System (BSIS) is moving to user authentication via CIS2 and smart cards in 2024.

Open Exeter will be closed and decommissioned in 2024 – the following provides details of replacement services.

Cervical screening

The new NHS Cervical Screening Management System (CSMS) is now live. 

It replaces the previous call/recall IT system and is now accessed via an NHS smartcard.  The Open Exeter system is no longer accessible for the purposes of delivering NHS Cervical Screening Programme services.

For any technical support with using or accessing CSMS please visit the CSMS help page.

Bowel cancer screening

The Bowel Cancer Screening System (BCSS) is changing the way its users authenticate their identity.  BCSS users will no longer login via Open Exeter.  BCSS is going to move to user authentication via CIS2 and smartcards.

Following a successful pilot, rollout to the rest of the programme has commenced. See the Bowel cancer screening page for more information. 

HPV vaccinations data

As part of the decommissioning plans for Open Exeter and NHAIS there have been changes to the way HPV vaccination records are captured, flowed and reported. Updates via the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations application on Open Exeter for non-screening users ceased on 21 August 2023.

In September an interim solution via the National Immunisation and Vaccination System (NIVS) went live for use by school age immunisation services (SAIS). Find guidance for SAIS on how to access and use NIVS for HPV record upload

Further developments to flow HPV vaccination records from general practice to support the NHS cervical screening programme are planned as part of the NHSE Immunisation Strategy.

Other users

If you are using Open Exeter for any other purpose you need to identify what alternative services already exist to meet your needs, for example National Care Records Service (NCRS) - NHS Digital for patient tracing. 

Open Exeter is deprecated and is being replaced by the new Cervical Screening Management System (CSMS) in 2024.

Open Exeter is a silver service, meaning it is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and supported from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays. 

Access to Open Exeter in England is managed the Primary Care Support England (PCSE). 

Information about re-setting passwords and the forms required for setting up new primary contacts can be found on the PCSE web page. Please note, PCSE are now only approving access for users accessing Open Exeter for the purposes of Cervical Screening. 

Once Cervical Screening has transitioned to the new NHS Cervical Screening Management System no new users will be facilitated as the information on Open Exeter will no longer be current.

The items for Open Exeter roadmap are:

For account management queries for GP practices and those that access Open Exeter for the purposes of accessing Cervical Screening data should contact PCSE.

For General Open Exeter Queries,contact the national service desk by email [email protected] or by telephone: 0300 303 5035.

The following services are related to Open Exeter: