Number of women facing long waits for smear results is longest on record

The number of women enduring long waits for cervical screening results is the longest on record, after moves to a new system caused chaos.

Official figures show that just 48.4 per cent of patients received their results within two weeks in 2018/19, against a target of 98 per cent. The figure is down from 58.6 per cent in 2017/18, and from 95.2 per cent in 2011/12.

It follows the disastrous implementation of a new screening programme, which saw laboratory workers leave their posts, when warned the number of labs would be cut from 50 to nine.

It coincided with efforts by the health service to encourage women to attend invitations for screening.

At one point, results for more than 150,000 women were left in a backlog, instead of being checked.

Kate Singer, from cervical cancer charity Jo’s trust, said: “It is not fair that women had to face such long waits for their results last year. We know that can increase anxiety at a potentially stressful time”.

In recent years, NHS screening programmes have been dogged by failings.

Earlier this year, an independent review called for Public Health England to be stripped of any responsibility for delivery of screening, following a long decline in take up of breast and cervical screening.

The new statistics from NHS Digital show that the numbers being screened for cervical cancer have risen by 0.5 per cent, from a 21-year-low the year before. In total, 71.9 per cent of eligible women in England were screened during 2018/19. .

An NHS spokesman said: “Hundreds of thousands more women were screened for cervical cancer over the last year and the NHS will put further plans in place to increase uptake including through more convenient appointments, following Professor Sir Mike Richards’ independent review into screening. A new and more accurate way of testing for cervical screening will be in place by the end of the year as part of the NHS long term plan’s efforts to catch more cancer earlier and ultimately save more lives.”