Bewdley cancer survivor says NHS smear test move 'horrendous'

BBC News

3 days ago

A cervical cancer survivor from Worcestershire has described the changes to smear testing in England as "horrendous". From July 2025, women aged 25 to 49 will be invited for cervical screening every five years, instead of every three.Amie Wood, from Bewdley, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in January 2022, said: "It's horrendous. I think it should be less time to wait - yearly is a long time for someone who is concerned."But an NHS spokesperson said: "We recognise that changes to cervical screening can seem worrying but want to reassure everyone that this new approach is based on robust scientific evidence."
Dr Helen Leach, a GP at Nunwell Surgery in Bromyard, told BBC Hereford and Worcester that she supported the NHS's changes to how they screen cervical cancer. "This comes down to a much better understanding of the causes of cervical cancer, the main cause is the HPV or the Human Papillomavirus," she said."We now have a much more accurate testing and we know it takes someone many years to develop cervical cancer after they get HPV."But we're also vaccinating 12 to 13 year old girls and boys against HPV so all of these things combined have told us that we can extend that interval safely." But Ms Wood, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer more than two years after her smear test result was incorrectly recorded as normal, said she would still want her daughters to be checked much more regularly. She said: "Three years if you haven't got any issues but to go to five years, I mean I have two daughters and I would want them checked a lot more regular than every five years. "I think that's a very, very long time."
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