By Beth Surridge
Leicester’s hospitals are launching free cervical smear screening drop-in sessions next month to combat a recent drop in the number of women attending such tests.
There is no need to book for the appointment, as the sessions will be running from 9am until 4pm on Saturday, March 9, at Leicester General Hospital and Leicester Royal Infirmary.
In addition to that, they are encouraging female staff members who are due a screening to come to a drop-in session running from March 11-15.
The aim of this is to try to encourage women to go for a screening, if they are due one, as Leicester’s cervical screening uptake is lower than the national average.
Vishanthi Shesha, Consultant Gynaecologist, said: “National figures show that a lot more women are not attending their smear tests in Leicester and Leicestershire.
“As a team, we wanted to help by providing a place where women who are due or overdue their cervical smear test can have it done without the hassle of making an appointment.”
A cervical screening test usually takes around 5 minutes to carry out, however more and more women once they reach the age of 25 decide not to go to their screening.
Vishanthi added: “This is our first community drop-in event for the community. At these two hospitals, we can cater for a large number of women as we have the facilities and trained staff.
“I don’t know what the response is going to be but these two hospitals will be able to see a huge number should the message be taken up by women. Hopefully we can extend to other local hospitals too.”
If you would like to find out more information you can email cervicalsmear@uhl-tr.nhs.uk
