Many of us assume that a cervical screening test (aka smear test) is testing for cervical cancer, but this isn’t strictly true.

“Since 2020, the cervical screening programme across the UK has been using what’s known as HPV primary screening,” explains Dr Zoe Watson, GP and founder of wellbeing platform Wellgood Wellbeing. “What this means is that the lab tests the cervical cells for the human papillomavirus (HPV) first. The laboratory will look to see if you have high-risk HPV. If high-risk HPV is found, the laboratory will test your sample for cell changes.”

HPV is incredibly common and just because you have it, that doesn’t mean you’ll get a high-risk reading. High-risk HPV means that you have a type of HPV that is linked to cervical cancer.

Are your cervical screening results unclear? Here’s how to interpret them – and what happens next