Smear test results timescale

[zaffa]

Hi everyone,
Has anyone had a smear test recently and can share how long it took for results?
The nurse just said to ring them if nothing in six weeks but she didn't say what the average wait time is.

Results in 12 days for me last month 😊

Thanks - whereabouts in the country are you?

Just checked my smear audit and my results have been back within a week for HPV negative samples, and on average 4 weeks for HPV positive samples. The two smears I took last Wednesday are back already!

Will vary between labs, though.

Thanks, I had two HPV positive in a row results and they always came back well within two weeks, I don't think I paid a lot of thought to previous timescales before that.
Hoping this one is HPV negative so particularly anxious to get the results!

I'm Merseyside

Could I ask why you took two smears last week? Is there a benefit to take more than one?

I’m a sexual health nurse, I literally take the smears.

About 7-10 days most recently (last month). Negative.

@WetBandits thanks - that makes more sense! Do you work from a doctor office or from a sexual health clinic? Just wondering if return times are different - and do you get them via post or electronically?
I will keep an eye on my NHS app as they may get uploaded there faster as our postal service is really dire where we are and I often get post days or even weeks after it was posted.

Sexual health clinic. We’re not commissioned to take smears so our service doesn’t get paid for doing them, but if I have a lady in with me who says she’s not had one in years, or needs one and can’t get an appointment with her usual practice, or if she’s due a smear and I’m already seeing her for something else anyway, I’m not going to just shrug my shoulders and not do it! I’m trained to do them so I might as well offer it if I can. Commissioners haven’t pulled me up on it as we can do ‘opportunistic’ smears, which I would argue they are!

I get email notification from the lab when results are available from a sample I’ve taken so I probably find out results faster than the patients do. Not sure if they get uploaded to the NHS app, but possibly! Your GP will get a copy of your result too, wherever you had it done.

Results will always come by post if the woman hasn’t explicitly asked for no correspondence to her address, in which case I’d mark that clearly on the request form.

Return times will be the same for GP surgeries and sexual health clinics as they all go to the same processing labs. Some labs have a terrible backlog (the lab we use had a return time of about 8 weeks a few months ago, but it’s improved hugely since!)

Surely if you've tested positive for HPV previously then you will always have HPV...

Pretty sure there isn't a cure. I've got it, so as far as I'm aware I'll always have it and the smear is then for cell changes / abnormal cells.

Thanks @WetBandits - I'm a bit anxious about them because I had HPV positive for a couple of years, went for colposcopy and had a biopsy and they found no abnormal cells at all so discharged me back to regular three year testing and this is my first test so I guess I'm scared that I'm some sort of outlier who has progressed to risky cell changes quickly or who hasn't cleared the HPV yet.
When I saw the nurse she seemed to be surprised I haven't been seen yearly since the colposcopy so it made me worry I've somehow been missed.
I haven't had any symptoms or anything like that, it's just a bit of health anxiety I think that I can't quite seem to shake so I really hope I find out one way or the other soon

I understood that it can go dormant but if it's active it shows up on the test and that's when it could cause cell changes. But either way I guess the concern is always that I am more at risk of cell changes - I know the stats and how slow growing it is etc, but I'm generally anxious about health and so any tests worry me.

Happy to report that they have just come through on my NHS app and I have finally cleared the HPV so normal recall schedule 😊 so a total of 12 days (including four weekend days)

Great news 😁

@zaffa excellent news!

@WetBandits how do you get them to email you? I'm a sample taker and I don't get emailed, I have to go back and search to see if results are in.

This correct. Usually you'll clear the infection (at least down to undetectable levels) within 2 years. It can come back, or it can be gone for good.

I’m the named smear coordinator for my service so all results taken by our clinic get sent to me from the lab for auditing and uploading to patient records, I think that’s literally the only reason I get them! It’s patchy service at best and they only email me results for about 1/3 of the samples taken, so I have to log into the database every week anyway to find them myself most of the time 😂 we’ve just moved to CSMS now so hopefully results will be more streamlined!

No, that isn’t right. Most people will clear HPV within two years.