New cervical screening campaign kicks off at CCDHB

Regional Screening Services (RSS) ran the first free clinic at Wellington Regional Hospital in late February, with four nurses screening 45 women.

“It’s so important to offer low-cost, accessible clinics to make sure everyone can access cervical screening services,” said Rhondda Knox, General Manager of CCDHB’s Women’s Health Service. “We received very positive feedback from those who attended the first weekend clinic, and we are delighted to be offering more over the year.”

“The proportion of Māori, Pasifika and Asian women coming forward for screening is really low in the Capital & Coast region,” said Robyn Fox, Regional Coordinator, Regional Screening Services.

“Reaching these groups is a key focus of our free clinics, as well as the under-screened and never-screened. We screened a range of ethnicities at the recent clinic, and every woman that came along was overdue or very overdue for their screening.”

There are three more free clinics planned for Wellington Regional Hospital this year, with the next one taking place on May 9. RSS also provide four combined clinics with Breast Screening per year at Kenepuru Hospital Outpatients Department and at BreastScreen Central, Hutt Hospital. Appointments can be booked by calling freephone 0800 729 729.

The clinic coincided with the launch of the new National Cervical Screening Programme (NCSP) campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the importance of cervical screening, and educate and empower young people to participate in regular screening to detect and prevent cervical cancer. It is aimed at anyone with a cervix, including trans or non-binary people, aged 25 to 29 years

“Cervical cancer is one of the easiest cancers to prevent if detected,” said Rhondda. “We urge all women aged between 25 to 69 years to take that step and have regular smear tests if you are sexually active.”

Last year the start age for cervical screening was changed from 20 to 25 years. There is strong evidence that screening between 20 and 24 years provides little benefit to women and has the potential to cause harm.

“Cancer in women under 25 years is rare and the HPV human papillomavirus immunisation means that more young women are now protected against this virus that causes cervical cancer,” explained Rhondda.

Find out more about the new screening campaign on the Start to Screen website, and download campaign posters here and here.