All women and people with a cervix between the ages of 25 and 64 are eligible for regular cervical screening; women are invited for screening every 3 years from age 25-49, and every 5 years from 50-64.

 

It is estimated that cervical screening saves approximately 2,000 lives a year across England. What is concerning is uptake is at a 20-year low. Public Health England (PHE) launched a national campaign in March in response to a year-on-year decline in the number of women responding to invitations and taking up appointments for screening.

 

At Jai Medical Centre we want to continuously raise awareness through emails and text messaging to encourage attendance for cervical screening.

 

There are many reasons women don’t attend cervical screenings – fear of discomfort or pain, embarrassment or a lack of knowledge about the procedure. However, the test should take under 5 minutes, and recent Public Health England (PHE) research shows that once women have been screened, the vast majority (87%) are ‘glad they went’ and 84% say that they were ‘put at ease by the nurse or doctor doing the test’.

What I would say to women who are worried about attending is, we want to make it easy for you; you can ask for a female nurse or doctor, you can bring a chaperone if it makes you more comfortable. We will tell you anything you need to know – there’s no such thing as a stupid question! We’re here to help.”  If you wish to discuss this, do not hesitate to contact the practice and make appointment with our Nurse Rathna Pillai and Andrea Esanu.

 Access also available via Extended Clinics

Extended hours screening is available on evenings and weekends at a choice of 10 Barnet locations. To book, contact your usual GP practice and ask about 8-8 hub appointments or call
0203 948 6809 between 6.30pm and 9pm on weekdays and 8am – 8pm weekends.

More information about cervical screening can be found at:

Smear tests for people with a learning disability

Cervical screening: how it’s done | NHS

Don’t ignore your cervical screening invite | NHS

Cervical screening: what to expect | NHS

 

 Cervical Screening fact sheets in different languages: 

Arabic عربى	Bengali    বাঙ্গালী ল্যাংগুয়েজে	Chinese 中文	Farsi	French Française	Greek Ελληνικά
Gujarati ગુજરાતી	Hindi हिंदी	Kurdish (Sorani) Kurdî	Italian Italiana	Portuguese Portuguesa	Polish Polskie
Punjabi ਪੰਜਾਬੀ	Spanish Española	Somali somali	Ukraine Україна	Vietnamese Tiếng Việt