Cervical screening uptake is at its lowest point for 20 years

Statistics show that one in four women fails to accept her screening invitation. This is why Public Health England has launched the cervical screening saves lives campaign. At the time Jade Goody was sadly dying of cervical cancer there was a lot of press coverage and this led to a large increase in women attending cervical screening. Unfortunately these numbers have steadily declined since that time.

The reasons for not attending smear tests are complex and multi factorial

Access may be an issue for women. A lot of people work far from home and their GPs are located close to home. It may require taking a day off work to get cervical screening and thus it may not be prioritised. Embarrassment and fear have also been identified as factors limiting uptake.

There may also be a misunderstanding of the purpose of the smear test

The smear test is incorrectly referred to as a cancer test in the popular press which is wrong. It is not a test to detect cancer: it is a test to protect women from cervical cancer by detecting pre-cancerous changes in the cells that line the cervix. These changes cause no symptoms so you would not be aware of them without screening. These changes are fully treatable but if undetected and untreated these changes can develop into cancer. Women who attend regular screenings are unlikely to get cancer.

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