Abstract 32P
Background
Regular cervical screening, crucial for preventing cervical cancer, detects high-risk HPV, linked to over 99% of cases. The NHS England screening program reports to save 5,000 lives yearly. However, NHS data shows a decline in screening attendance, from over 72% in March 2020 to 69.9% in March 2022 for those aged 25 to 64. This study aims to understand barriers preventing females from taking the cervical smear test. A secondary aim was to improve the rate of cervical smear update of female patients in a family medicine or general practitioner (GP) clinic.
Methods
All females in a GP practice in NorthWest of England that were overdue a smear test (479/1150) in August 2023 were phoned enquiring about their overdue smear. A subsequent follow-up after three months gauged the impact of the intervention on screening rates. The same individual phoned everyone in the cohort with a written script to avoid risk of bias and individuals were only called once. Rush hour and school pick up times were avoided.
Results
197 (41.1%) responded to the phone call of which 155 (78.6%) were accurately eligible for a smear test. 32 (17.3%) stated they were too busy with other commitments to book the test, mentioning the need for more out of hours appointments. 20 (12.9%) mentioned they were uncomfortable or anxious about the process. 18 individuals (11.2%) struggled with a language barrier during the conversation and had their family translate. Overall, 141 (91.0%) of patients agreed to receiving a booking link for the smear test. Upon review in December 2023, only 16 (11.3%) had undergone a smear test.
Conclusions
This study highlights various reasons for which women may not attend their smear test, most commonly being busy with work and children alongside procedural anxieties and language barriers. This can be reflected nationally due to all women in the inclusion criteria being of working age, pre-menopausal and around 1 million residents of the UK self-reporting poor English language skills. Whilst, phone calls didn’t appear to be a useful way to increase cervical smear uptake other interventions such as weekend and out of hours smear test services; in person consultations to address concerns and multilingual forms of communications involving local cultural communities may be tried to improve uptake.
Legal entity responsible for the study
The authors.
Funding
Has not received any funding.
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.