To be pleased self screening for cervical cancer is being trialled in the UK

[FredSoftly]

Only in London at the moment and only on 31,000 women.

The test is done at home (swab your vagina) and returned in prepaid envelope to be checked for the presence of HPV. If no HPV - no further action needed. If HPV found you'll need to have a regular smear at GP.

It was discussed on Radio4 Today at 08.39 this morning.

The doctor said it would offer women "choice, convenience and privacy."

Never, ever have I understood the banal and simplistic idea used in news reports, that women are simply ‘embarrassed’ and so don’t attend smears.

It seems to me that must a male idea based simply on the intrusion into our genital area and no one has actually asked women why they don’t go.

I don’t know anyone who hasn’t taken up a smear due to being embarrassed. There likely are those for whom it is embarrassing but I highly doubt that’s the main reason and yet it is often trotted out as the sole reason. Fearful? Yes. Anxious about the procedure, the results and the discomfort? Yes.

Hopefully the trial is successful and it's rolled out nationally.
I've never actually had a smear but the very thought of it sends me into a panic spiral that ends in a very dark place that teamed with very irregular cycles and a extremely traumatic miscarriage where I ended up having large pieces of placenta manually pulled out without any pain relief I just can't see it happening but I'd happily self swab.
Also those posts saying don't be silly are so patronising. It makes me feel as though my past trauma isn't valid and I'm a silly little girl for not just getting on with it - not an adult woman who is able to make her own informed choices about what's best for me

I had one recently and was fairly keen to go as I wanted to see if losing 200lbs made a difference to how it felt. Nope, didn't make the slightest difference but I just keep saying only a few more to do in my lifetime as I'm 40 so I've done more now than I'll need to do in the future.

I did however feel less self conscious about taking my clothes off.

Post on social media ect that should say

Yes. As Angel says. It is a bud very similar to a cotton bud. I think the instruction was to swirl it round two or three times. In terms of doing it wrong, you could fail to collect sufficient sample or contaminate the sample when you take the bud out. Possible, but not likely. This would mean the n

Posted too soon! Contamination and insufficient sample would mean the test would be rejected so a pain to repeat but that would be what would happen.

@Angel2702 honestly I'd be able to mess that up. I can't even use internal sanitary products properly. The stress of doing it wrong is higher than the stress of just seeing a professional.

This is the crux of my point, this is great for women it will work for if rolled out nationally...but please let those of us who lack confidence in our ability to do the swab still access services who can do it for us.

Completely in favour of this and would love for it to be rolled out as an option nationwide.

I so so hope this becomes a national scheme. I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and whilst I did have smears when younger, I really, really just cannot tolerate them at the moment. It's been about ten years since my last smear, but it isn't possible for me to undergo internal examinations done by someone else right now.

Thanks to another thread on mumsnet i have cancelled my repeat smear (repeat because the last one failed as it was too painful and horrible to bear) and have bought an HPV test from Superdrug. If I test positive then I will have to find a way to get it done but it won’t be with the last doctor who despite knowing how anxious I was left me on the table legs akimbo whilst she took a phone call and then refused to use the smaller speculum.

My horror around smear test are absolutely NOT about embarrassment.

Smears can be excruciating post menopause. It's cruel women should have to endure them if there's an alternative.

I think this is really positive. When I was pregnant I had to practically beg for a Group B Strep screening, and even then I was fobbed off at every turn, (despite an awareness campaign running in the media at the time) with every midwife and consultant I saw refusing to do it and telling me I’d need to order a kit off the internet and do it myself at home.

I was worried about doing that wrong because I couldn’t even see where my fanny was at that point and I remember thinking at the time that if they were so keen to get heavily pregnant women swabbing themselves at home, why couldn’t they bring out a home-testing kit for HPV.

I’ll be really pleased if this is rolled out nationally, fingers crossed.

This is a brilliant idea!

Good idea but doesn’t catch those like me who have abnormal cells but no HPV. Luckily mine is just something to monitor with a smear every 6 months but if it was based HPV only I would not be getting monitored which could lead to something worse developing. Still better than people not getting a smear at all obviously

Yes I think as long as it is effective then why not. I was only thinking the other day to call up and find out about booking in as sure mine is due this year, will still call up and see what they say.

Am very annoyed as had a midwife appointment today and saw on the screen that it said to offer home cervical screening - but can't as I'm pregnant. Typical!
Though thinking about it now, surely this must be safe during pregnancy as only a swab?

I see this as a positive thing but seeing the amount of handwringing around LFT I'm a little concerned we have too many snowflakes in the U.K. to cope with this!

If they can't swab their noses how the feck will they swab up their fanny

@britinnyc

Good idea but doesn’t catch those like me who have abnormal cells but no HPV. Luckily mine is just something to monitor with a smear every 6 months but if it was based HPV only I would not be getting monitored which could lead to something worse developing. Still better than people not getting a smear at all obviously

In England (not sure re Scotland/Wales/NI) with regular cervical screening they now test the sample first for HPV, and only check for abnormal cells if positive. A fairly recent change.

Brilliant news.

I've seen it reported before on the BBC that women are too embarrassed.

1. There are a host of reasons that when don't attend
2. Saying it's because of embarrassment downplays this and also suggests women are being a bit silly
3. If women do find it embarrassing, well it's not surprising, is it! And how many men are keen to put themselves in embarrassing situations. Especially ones that can come with pain etc

I heard this on radio 4 today and thought it was very badly explained as it wasn’t clear at first (to me or the presenter) that it’s isn’t a smear test but a HPV test and I was thinking how the hell would you wrestle a swab to you own cervix? Then the woman mentioned HPV and I went ‘ooohhhh’ and was very glad I hadn’t mentioned it to anyone else.

Radio 4 didn't really devote enough time to it. And when introducing the topic, the female presenter said that smear tests are generally not that bad (forget her exact words) which I thought was unnecessary.

So long as it is a genuine choice and not just a money-saving exercise. I would rather not have to do my own.