Dr Sue Mann, national clinical director for women’s health, said: “Offering millions of women an alternative test they can do from the comfort of their own homes will be a game-changer \u2013 making it easier than ever for them to get tested.<\/p>\n
“There are lots of reasons that may stop women from getting their cervical screening \u2013 embarrassment, lack of time or worries about discomfort \u2013 and these kits provide a discreet and convenient option we hope will encourage more women to take up the life-saving test.”<\/p>\n
The kits contain a swab, similar to a long cotton, bud which is used to collect a sample from the vagina.<\/p>\n
It is then sent back to the NHS and if high-risk HPV is found, individuals will be invited to book a follow-up cervical screening appointment.<\/p>\n
High-risk HPV increases the risk of cervical cancer, but it does not mean a woman will automatically develop it.<\/p>\n
Trials of the self-testing in London suggest it could lead to one in 10 women to come forward for screening \u2013 boosting uptake by around 400,000 a year.<\/p>\n
Other parts of the UK are also looking at introducing self-testing.<\/p>\n
Women aged 24 to 64 are invited for cervical screening every five years \u2013 or more frequently if HPV is detected.<\/p>\n
Through a combination of HPV vaccination, which is offered to teenagers, and improved screening, the NHS is hoping to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040.<\/p>\n
The NHS says cervical screening appointments with a clinician is still the best way to prevent cancer \u2013 and even if you have missed an appointment you can still come forward for one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr Sue Mann, national clinical director for women’s health, said: “Offering millions of women an alternative test they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":748775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-748774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}