Cervical cancer screening rate falls to ten-year low

Published on Tuesday 28 October 2008 21:03

THE number of women being screened for cervical cancer has fallen to its lowest rate for more than a decade, said the NHS.

The statistics revealed that 69.7 per cent of eligible women had been checked for the disease since 2005.

That figure, from 31 March this year, compares with 81.7 per cent of eligible women in 1998 and 78 per cent in 1995.

Cervical smears are offered to eligible women aged 20-60 every three years.

At the end of March just 50.2 per cent of women aged 20-24 had been tested in the last three and half years. Uptake rates for the test have fallen in almost all age groups. A total of 373,340 smear tests were carried out during 2007-8 – down from 401,749 the previous year.

The test can identify pre- cancerous cells in women who do not have any symptoms of cervical cancer, with abnormalities more easily treated at this early stage.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We are working with NHS boards to investigate the decline and develop local initiatives to reverse this trend."