There are no products in your shopping cart.
| 0 Items | £0.00 |
Wed, 16/11/2011 - 00:00
On the 16th November Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust brought together leading figures from health and politics at a major Welsh Assembly event to call for action on a preventable disease claiming three lives every day in the UK.
Every three hours a woman is diagnosed with cervical cancer and although cervical screening saves around 5,000 UK lives each year the numbers of women in Wales attending this vital test for changes that could led to cervical cancer continues to fall.
Apart from a boost in figures around reality TV star Jade Goody’s death from the disease Wales has seen cervical screening attendance fall for more than ten years.
Robert Music, Director of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, the UK’s only charity dedicated to those affected by cervical cancer and cervical abnormalities, said: “Latest figures show that almost half of women in Wales between the ages of 20 and 24 have not been screened in the last five years.”*
“In 1999/2000, more than 80% of all women in Wales eligible for screening had attended but in the most recent 2009/10 figures that has dropped to 76%. These percentages represents thousands of women failing to go for a five-minute test which could mean the difference between life and death.
“Urgent action needs to be taken to raise awareness and to boost these falling numbers - targeted campaigns that let girls know that because they have been vaccinated against HPV it does not mean they will not need screening and that urge both employers to be more flexible with time off and GP surgeries to offer later evening and weekend screening, so it’s easier for women to get along to appointments.”
Dr Amanda Tristram, Senior Lecturer in Gynaecological Oncology, Cardiff University School of Medicine, who spoke at the event on 16 November, said: “Wales has a screening system it can be proud of and we must ensure that that continues to be the case. But we need to do more to fight the stigma and the misinformation that makes women reluctant to go to their GP with symptoms or unaware of what screening involves and just how important it is.”
“And if they find themselves in the position of one in ten women who will have an abnormal smear test at some time in their lives, there needs to be information and support available. I am on the Ask The Expert panel on the Jo’s Cervical Cancer website and this, along with the website itself, the helpline and the forum, is a valuable resource which can be accessed by anyone, anywhere, who is affected by cervical cancer or abnormalities.”
Pip Rumsey, 38, from Penrhos, will also be at the event and will be speaking about her experience of cervical cancer: “When I was diagnosed it was like I had been smacked in the face. I had no symptoms, I wasn’t feeling ill, all my smears until then had been clear. But the scary thing is that because of that, it would have been so easy to have ignored that screening invitation and then things may have been very different for me. Luckily I kept my appointment, the cancer was caught early and the treatment was successful.”
“But when that bombshell was dropped, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust helped me understand what was happening and gave me the chance to be in touch with other women who understood what I was going through. So I want to make sure everyone knows that Jo’s is there and get the message out to as many women as possible, When that screening letter comes, don’t file it for when you’ve got the time. It’s only five minutes and it could make a massive difference.”
*According to the 2009-10 Screening Wales report 54.2% of women aged 20-24 attended cervical screening.
For more information please contact [email protected].
Notes for Editors
Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust (www.jostrust.org.uk) - is the UK’s only dedicated cervical cancer charity offering support and information for those affected by cervical cancer and cell changes. National Helpline 0808 802 8000