One in four women aged 25-64 are not attending smear tests

Dan Surrey reports on the issue.

Every day in the UK, nine women are diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Tests are offered to all women over the age of 25. Despite this, one in four women aged 25-64 do not attend potentially life-saving smear tests.

Smear for Smear, a campaign run by charity Jo’s cervical cancer trust, aims to make more women aware of the importance of smear tests. As it is cervical cancer prevention week, they are working particularly hard to spread their message.

Robert Music, chief executive of the charity, spoke of the nationwide issue: “What we’re very worried about is if the number of women who are attending screenings continues to go down, then there’s a very real risk that we’re going to see more women diagnosed with cervical cancer and, sadly, maybe more lose their lives, so it’s an absolute matter of urgency that there is greater investment at a national level.”

When asked why some women do not attend smear tests, he said: “it could be embarrassment, worried about it being painful, and actually not understanding what the test is for. They think it’s a test to find cancer, rather than prevent it.”
Karen Hobbs was 24 when she was diagnosed with the disease. After realising something was wrong, she went to the doctor: “I noticed bleeding in between periods and after sex, so I googled abnormal bleeding and, amongst other less sinister things, cervical cancer kept popping up.

“People know that a smear test equals something to do with cervical cancer, then you can get tested and see if you’ve got it or not, but I don’t think enough people are acknowledging how important getting checked is.”

Karen now works at Ask Eve, a gynaecological cancer information service.