AS part of Cervical Cancer Prevention Week, Royal Surrey County Hospital is highlighting the importance of attending cervical screening.

In the UK alone, eight women are diagnosed with cervical cancer on a daily basis and three women will lose their lives to the disease.

Even though this type of cancer is now largely preventable, due to screening and the HPV vaccination programme, one in five women aged from 25 to 65, do not take up their invitation for tests every three to five years.

Cervical screening isn’t a test for cancer, it’s a test to check the health of the cells of the cervix.

A majority of women’s test results show that everything is normal, but for around one in 20 women the test shows some abnormal changes in the cells of the cervix – those with an abnormal result are then referred for further investigation to the Trust’s Colposcopy team.

Fiona Graham, colposcopy lead nurse, said: “Being regularly screened means any abnormal changes in the cells of the cervix can be identified at an early stage, and if necessary, treated to stop cancer developing.

“The cervical screening tests normally take place at your GP surgery and are performed by the practice nurse. It takes around five minutes and although some may find it uncomfortable and embarrassing it could save their life.

“We see around six women a day at our clinics and work hard to make it as positive experience as possible.

“For many of the women we see the cells will go back to normal on their own without any treatment, but in some cases they will be removed to stop them becoming cancerous.”