Cervical Screening Awareness Week 2016 campaign encourages more women to have smear tests

Posted: 09/06/2016

Cervical Screening Awareness Week runs from 13-19 June 2016. Spearheaded by Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, the campaign aims to encourage more women to attend cervical screening.

Cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women under 35. Every day in the UK nine women are diagnosed with cervical cancer and three die from the disease. Although cervical screening (smear tests) can protect against developing cervical cancer, one in four women do not attend this potentially life-saving test. This rises to one in three 25-29 year olds - the statistically most vulnerable age group - while the screening uptake by 60-64 year olds is the lowest it has been in 18 years.

Commenting on Cervical Screening Awareness Week 2016, Lucie Prothero, senior associate in the Penningtons Manches clinical negligence team who specialises in delayed diagnoses of cancer cases, said: “We fully support the message of this campaign to raise awareness and encourage women to attend for cervical screening.  Cervical cancer is a preventable cancer and attending cervical screening is proven to reduce the risk of developing it.

“We sadly see the terrible outcome of delayed diagnosis of cervical and other gynaecological cancers. We deal with many claims where cancer sufferers and their families are concerned that the opportunity for an earlier diagnosis was missed. Often in circumstances where there is a claim for negligence, it has involved patients presenting to doctors with consistent patterns of symptoms, where appropriate investigations have not occurred or they have been inappropriately reported or followed-up.

“But it is also true that, in many cases, patients have failed to attend for cervical screening or have been slow to attend their GPs with problematic symptoms and this can have devastating consequences.”

Click here for more information about Cervical Screening Awareness Week. Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust is a UK charity dedicated to women and their families affected by cervical cancer and cervical abnormalities. Through this annual campaign they aim to raise awareness of the importance of prevention and early detection of cervical cancer.

Return to news headlines