During Cervical Cancer Prevention Week, Boyes Turner welcome the FSRH (Faculty of Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare of the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists) and RCOG’s call for urgent action to increase cervical screening attendance rates.
If you’ve been following Jo’s Trust’s campaign #SmearForSmear you’ll already know the importance and the benefits of regular cervical screening in reducing your risk of cancer. However, NHS Digital have reported that attendance for free, NHS cervical screening during NHS Cervical Screening Programme 2016-17 was at its lowest in 20 years. Whilst increasing numbers of women are being invited for screening, the uptake in the highest risk age group of 25 to 49-year-olds was only 69.6%.
Suggested reasons for the low attendance rate include local authority budget-driven cuts reducing the number of local settings in which cervical screening is offered, such as SRH clinics. Meanwhile, overburdened GPs are missing opportunities to catch those who have missed out by offering opportunistic appointments for screening at their surgeries.
These additional barriers are simply compounding the problem already encountered with existing barriers (such as fear, lack of awareness) which charities like Jo’s Trust are working so hard to overcome, making it more important than ever to raise awareness of the life-saving benefits of attending your appointment and having your smear.
Early detection of abnormal cells is the key to the avoidance of cervical cancer, along with HPV vaccination among pre-teen and teenage girls.
When left undetected and untreated, cervical cancer not only causes death, but leaves its survivors with lifelong physical, emotional and psychological injury.
Join us and Jo’s Trust, this Cervical Cancer Prevention Week, in urging female friends and family to #ReduceYourRisk and join us in promoting cervical cancer prevention by posting your lipstick #SmearForSmear selfie. For details on how to get involved, click here.
