Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Tayside women urged to get smear test
FOLLOWING a series of successful drop-in cervical cancer screening sessions, NHS Tayside is encouraging more Dundee woman to get tested.
Cervical cancer affects almost one i n every 100 women with Tayside having the highest i ncidence of it in Scotland.
A series of drop-in sessions have been held across Tayside since January last year which saw more than 160 women overdue their smear test coming forward for screening.
The screening process saves about 5,000 lives in the UK every year and prevents eight out of 10 cervical cancers from developing.
In Scotland, all women between the ages of 25-50 are offered a cervical screen test every three years with those between 50-65 offered a screening every five years.
Lead colposcopist Dr Kalpana Ragupathy said: “Cervical cancer affects almost one in 100 women and Tayside has the highest incidence of cervical cancer in Scotland.
“In terms of cervical screening uptake, Tayside is amongst the lowest five health boards.
“An abnormal smear does not mean cancer.
“It means a surface change in the cells in the cervix that could maybe turn into cancer if left untreated.”