CervicalCheck changes spell danger for women's health

The National Cervical Screening Programme (NCSP) has recently announced changes to the CervicalCheck screening programme.

The CervicalCheck programme was launched in September 2008 which involved the creation of a nationwide screening test which assessed a woman's risk of developing cervical cancer.

All a woman had to do was to attend her General Practitioner who would carry out the simple test for free there and then.If the test found abnormalities another simple procedure could be carried out, if necessary, on a later date by a gynaecologist which would essentially prevent the progression to cervical cancer.

The programme has the potential to reduce rates of cervical cancer by 80% if 4 in every 5 women were to avail of the test.

However, the recent changes announced mean that screening will shift from being open access to an organised call, re-call method of invitation to begin in September 2009.

This means that women who have not availed of the screening programme yet will need to register if they wish to do so in the future. In a letter to GPs the NCSP said that this will mean that even after going through the trouble of registering, women will have to wait 6 months before receiving a letter of invitation allowing them to avail of the test.

News Source : CervicalCheck changes spell danger for women's health