Cervical screening - New HPV testing

[Kenj]

So here's the thing. Post menopausal slight bleeds had lots of other checks at hospital to find out why - hysteroscopy, MRI, blood tests. Just had a mammogram and all proved OK. Then got sent letter to have cervical screen done so I thought great last thing to check and so hopefully it will be negative too. However, I have tested negative for the HPV virus so they have not tested my cells, this is despite my spotting? I've read literature on cervical cancers and up to 1 in 10 are not caused by the HPV virus so am very concerned despite nurse adding notes to the test that they have not tested my cells. Has anyone else had this issue? May need to pay for a test so the cells are checked.

This is a worry for me too, I had abnormal cells before the new changes came into place and had them removed, I've always tested negative for the HPV virus. Going forwards despite having had CIN2 they won't test my cells again, so will also have to look into private testing

I am just back from my smear test and was told it had all changed and now they test for HPV and only if that comes back as positive do they test cells. They are looking to move onto HPV home testing in the near future.

I think it costs about £200 to have a private one - sometimes it seems more like a cost saving strategy on the NHS part. Just when hopefully more women were beginning to take their cervical health more seriously as well.

At least when a health professional does it they look at your cervix and vagina and can see if things look OK and put the spatula in the right place. It's like when you go to the dentist, they look at your tongue and inner cheeks to look for signs of anything else that you wouldn't necessarily think is a concern. I can't see into my vagina and see my cervix and wouldn't necessarily know what looked normal anyway?

In 2020 my nhs test said HPV negative (so no cell change test carried out)
, 5 months later a private gynaecologist did another smear because she noticed something by chance when seeing me for something else. It came up HPV positive. 2 years later after further private tests I quickly went from borderline changes
to severe CGIN and been told I likely have early cervical cancer. I had surgery last week and awaiting pathology results. If I had never gone to the private gynaecologist I would be none the wiser and think I’m clear, my next smear wouldn’t be until next year, by which stage id likely be in serious trouble. I thank god I happened to go for that private appointment.

Yes, same issue here. I had investigations for spotting a few years back and they couldn’t see any obvious reason for it though they said my cells looked unusual - but not worrying at that point. They checked on the system when my next smear was due: it was a year away and they said that was fine as I’d be checked again then.

However between then and my smear test the policy here changed and at my last smear because I was negative for HPV they wouldn’t check my cells, despite mentioning my history to the nurse. I’m never going to test positive for HPV because I’ve been with my DH for 20+ years, so my ‘unusual’ cells are never going to be checked!

To me, missing 1 in 10 cases is a lot.