Blitz Bureau
MORE than one million extra women could have life-saving cervical-cancer checks if the NHS adopted do-it-yourself testing, researchers estimate.
More power to women
The team at King’s College London said the results of its self-testing trial were “fantastic” and “gave power to women”, said a BBC report. The kits are like a Covid swab but longer and are posted to a lab for analysis.
The NHS called the findings extremely positive and is assessing whether to roll out the scheme. There are more than 3,000 new cases of cervical cancer in the UK each year.
The cervix is the small opening joining the top of the vagina to the base of the womb. Women are invited for cervicalcancer screening – what used to be known as the smear test – every three to five years between the ages of 25 and 65.
But about 4.6 million women in England – nearly a third of those offered screening – do not come forward. “Cervical cancer screening has been in decline for the last 20 years,” a senior consultant on the trial, Mairead Lyons, said.
“Many women will describe it as an uncomfortable experience [or they are] too busy, embarrassed or afraid of the physical experience of it.” The YouScreen trial is the first time self-testing has been offered as part of cervical-cancer screening in the UK
