A Third Of North East Women Put Off Smear Test
Women in the North East could be putting their lives at risk by falling behind with their smear test appointments.
New research has found a third of women in the region have delayed their screening by more than a year, with 37 per cent claiming they struggle to get an appointment.
The most common reasons for women avoiding tests is because it's painful and embarrassing.
5 million women across the UK aren't up to date with their smear test appointments and 1 million women have confessed to never having had one.
Almost 3,000 women die from cervical cancer in the UK every year.
Emmy Quinn from Gateshead had her first two smear tests but then moved to a doctor’s surgery that didn’t have her medical records, meaning she didn’t get a smear test invitation. She remembered herself and booked a test.
The results came back with signs of abnormal Cin3 cells, meaning she is at risk of HPV.
Emmy, 28, said:
“If you catch it early enough you can be dealt with and everything is fine. Yes I have to go back next month and I’ll be monitored closely, but I’d much rather that than find out two years down the line that it has become cancer and I could have done something about it”
“I’m in this situation where I’m very lucky and I’ve still got a bit of a way to go but I don’t have cancer. If you ignore that letter and you later find out that you do have cancer then you’ll regret it.”
“People need to realise that it’s five minutes of being uncomfortable and then it’s done and then for most women after that five minutes it’s a clear result but for some women it really is lifesaving.”
This month a new campaign to get more women tested will launch in the UK.
Target 100,000 will offer women an at-home test called GynaeCheck which can detected the HPV virus that causes cervical cancer.