I had an irregular smear test in 2012 and was referred to the colposcopy unit in my local NHS hospital. I had two apps with them in 2013, which continued to show mild abnormalities, at the second one they also did a biopsy. I believe the biopsy came back clear and I think I had one more smear conducted by the colposcopy team a year later, after which I was released back into normal NHS testing.
Except I actually moved to Ireland after that, where I had a smear in early 2017 which came back with no concerns.
The issue I have now is: there is a big scandal in Ireland regarding the cervical screening programme here. Mostly it seems to relate to withholding info from women diagnosed with cervical cancer that an audit of their previous smears shows a false negative. However there's also speculation that the US firm the smears have been outsourced to have been returning false negatives at a rate 1/3 higher than normal.
I am currently pregnant, so can't have a repeat smear. I'm wondering if there's a way I can contact the colposcopy unit and find out for sure the dates of my last negative smear with them? Or if there's another way I can get this information? When I first moved to Ireland I tried to transfer all my medical records across and was told the NHS will not transfer records to non-NHS doctors.
Also, is it likely I would have had HPV testing in 2013 with a colposcopy unit? Basically, I'm wondering if I should almost discount the last 'good' smear result, and if so, what the implications are based on the timing of the earlier ones. I don't want to be paranoid about it, but news stories here are full of women with terminal cervical cancer diagnoses and I feel like I should at least arm myself with the facts about my own situation and find out what else I can do.