Column: Home-testing kits for cervical cancer a gamechanger

Letters are falling onto doormats and emails popping up in inboxes of around 8,000 women aged between 30 and 65 across Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable, Houghton Regis and surrounding areas. 

They’re for those who haven’t previously taken up invitations to cervical screening appointments. 

The offer: a simple test at home. 

The goal: saving lives.

I get it. Smear tests aren’t a bundle of fun. So, yes, people can be put off because it’s a bit uncomfortable, they’re busy, worried or embarrassed.

So, this new plan gets my backing.

It’s easy. If you’re eligible, you order a free kit, take the swab yourself at home and post it back to the NHS free of charge.

Importantly, the tests aren’t to see if you’ve already got cancer. It’s a sample that’s checked for high-risk HPV. That’s the virus which increases the risk of cervical cancer.

By screening for risk at an early stage, any abnormal cells can be spotted and treated quickly before they potentially develop into cancer.

If HPV is found, you will be asked to attend a follow-up cervical screening appointment with a nurse or doctor. If everything ok, then that’s that. 

If you already go for regular cervical screening appointments, please keep going. The home test is not there to replace something that already works for you. It’s another way of reaching women who, for whatever reason, haven’t been able to attend.

This is part of a wider effort to improve women’s healthcare. The morning after pill is now available for free at local pharmacies, while for the first time menopause advice is being built into NHS Health Checks for women over 40. 

Labour has also introduced Jess' rule, so that GPs have to review and rethink if a patient presents three times with the same or escalating symptoms 

There’s also £1 million being ploughed into a new programme for menstrual education, so girls can recognise the signs of an unhealthy period. Plus, over £2million investment into research about effective pain management for endometriosis so we can improve treatments. 

And the NHS has set a goal of eliminating cervical cancer as a public health problem by 2040. That is a goal worth taking seriously, one swab at a time.