The National Cervical Screening Programme, CervicalCheck, recorded its most successful year in 2016, a new report has shown.

According to the report, which looks at the programme's activities from September 1, 2015, to August 31, 2016, 79.7% of women who were eligible to have a free smear test, availed of the offer. This is the highest coverage achieved by CervicalCheck since it began screening in 2008.

A smear test only takes a few minutes to complete and as part of CervicalCheck, all women aged between 25 and 60 can avail of the test free of charge every three to five years.

The test can detect early changes in the cells of the cervix before they become cancerous. These changes can then be treated, meaning that the cancer never gets a chance to develop.

The report revealed that between September 2015 and August 2016, 263,481 satisfactory smear tests were taken and almost 91% of these were found to be negative or normal.

Almost 39,000 women required a follow-up appointment and 17,907 women attended for a colposcopy for the first time. A colposcopy is a simple examination that is carried out in the same way as a smear test. A doctor or nurse will look at the cervix using a type of microscope called a colposcope.

In some cases, treatment may be carried out at the time of the colposcopy or a cervical biopsy may be taken.
According to the report, 7,131 treatments were performed during colposcopies and overall, 8,885 women were found to have pre-cancerous abnormalities.

"CervicalCheck has always strived to provide a cervical screening programme which is comparable to the best to be found in the world and in the course of its first eight years, it has identified and treated more than 50,000 women with pre-cancerous abnormalities, thereby considerably reducing their risk of developing cervical cancer," commented Prof Grainne Flannelly, clinical director of CervicalCheck.

However, she pointed out that while the programme has screened almost 80% of women in the target population, some women are still not attending for screening.

Every year in Ireland, around 300 women are newly diagnosed with cervical cancer and almost 90 women die from the disease.

"A cervical screening test is free, only takes minutes and should be a normal part of a woman's routine. In addition, it is important to highlight that regular cervical screening is a woman's best chance at reducing her risk of developing cervical cancer.

"Cervical cancer affects women of all ages and I would urge in particular that women over 50 attend their appointment. We have identified that over one in four women in the 50-60 year old cohort have not participated in the programme in the last five years. There might be a perception that this is a young woman's issue, but women over 50 are still very much at risk," Prof Falnnelly said.

There are currently over 4,500 registered GPs, doctors and nurses who carry out cervical screening tests on behalf of CervicalCheck in more than 1,400 locations nationwide.

Women are encouraged to take up the free health check when invited and should check that their details are correct and on the register by calling freephone 1800 45 45 55 or by using the online facility on www.cervicalcheck.ie. Women can also check when they are due their next screening appointment on the CervicalCheck website.

The 2015-2016 report can be viewed here