NI Women Urged To Take Up Cervical Screening Invite

Women in Northern Ireland are too slow to take up invites for cervical screening, amounting to the highest incidence levels in the UK for cervical cancer.

The UK’s only dedicated cervical cancer charity, Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust, is urging women in Northern Ireland to have regular cervical screening tests.

A report from the charity found that almost one in four women are not taking up their cervical screening invitation.

22% of those eligible for screening (aged 25-64) do not attend, while the lowest uptake falls to those who are due their first and last invitations.

In both the 60-64 and 25-29 age groups, 28% of those invited will ignore or delay their screening, the charity said.

Jo's Trust is using Cervical Screening Awareness Week (June 9-15) to warn women they may be putting their lives at unnecessary risk.

Research by the Trust found that of 50-70 year old women surveyed, 31% didn’t consider screening necessary for all women.

Single women aged 50 to 70 were most likely to say the screening invitation seemed irrelevant, while only 33% said the information they received was informative.

Of those aged 25-34 surveyed, 43% said they had missed or delayed a screening, 43% found the procedure embarrassing, 26% said they found the procedure painful, 22% missed an appointment and failed to reschedule one and 27% said it was hard to book a cervical screening appointment at a convenient time.

Robert Music, Director of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, says: "It’s worrying to see that incidence levels in Northern Ireland are higher than the UK average and screening rates are still lower then we would like to see. Cervical cancer is a largely preventable disease thanks to the cervical screening programme and it is vital all those who are eligible attend when they receive an invitation. We are particularly worried about the trend where women are ignoring their first and last invitation as this could potentially lead to an increase in women diagnosed with the disease.

"Recent reports point to an increase in women having new partners later in life and this will increase their risk of contracting HPV. However, even if this is not the case, typically cervical cancer is a slow growing cancer which usually takes 10 to 15 years to develop, so women who have not been sexually active for some time may still be at risk.

"Screening plays a vital role as early stage cervical cancer, in the majority of cases, is symptomless. In the best case scenario cervical screening is designed to detect abnormal cells before they turn cancerous saving a woman from going through invasive treatment with devastating consequences. But screening also plays a vital role in catching the disease as early as possible, improving survival rates."

(IT/CD)