Theresa May makes heartfelt plea for more women to take ‘uncomfortable’ smear tests
2 min read
Theresa May today made a personal appeal for more women to get screened for cervical cancer after the number getting a check-up each year plummeted to a two-decade low.
The Prime Minister joined the growing chorus of health officials and MPs as she urged women to undergo the “uncomfortable” procedure as she has done herself.
Every year the tests catch roughly 3,000 cases of cervical cancer in the UK. Sexually active women between the ages of 30 and 45 are most at risk.
Labour MP Julie Elliot today raised the case of a young constituent who died of the illness despite repeated appeals to the doctor for a check-up.
She said Amber Rose Cliff was eventually forced to pay for her own test because she was too young to get one on the NHS.
By then the cancer had spread too far and Amber died earlier this month, the Sunderland Central MP recounted during Prime Minister's Questions today.
She called on Mrs May to back a a law change that would allow women under 25 to get a smear test on the NHS if they have symptoms.
Speaking from personal experience, the Prime Minister told the Commons the test was “hugely important”.
"Sadly what we see, even for women who qualify today to have the smear test, too many women do not take it up," she lamented.
"I know it's not a comfortable thing to do, because I have it as others do. But it is so important for women's health."
She added: "We need to address this issue in every way possible, so we will look at that question in every way possible...
"But my overall message is, to those who are called for a smear test, go and have it."
Mrs May said she would task Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt with looking into what more can be done.
Cervical smear tests are available to women in England and Wales aged 25 and over, but women in Scotland are entitled to one from the age of 20.
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