Cervical Screening (Smear Test) is routinely offered to women as part of a National Screening Programme between the ages of 25 and 64.
This test is not to diagnose cervical cancer. The test is to check the health of the cervix, which is the lower part of the womb. For the majority of women the test will show that everything is fine but for 1 in 20 women there may be some changes in the cells that can be caused by many things; however most of these changes will not lead to cervical cancer. Since the 1980’s, cervical cancer rates have halved mostly due to women having regular smear tests.
Women should be called routinely every 3 years until the age of 50, then the frequency is reduced to 5 yearly.