Dying to see a doctor

iF YOU had a medical screening programme that saved 5,000 women’s lives every year, wouldn’t it be shrewd to ensure it was as accessible as possible? Fewer families would suffer the unbearable agony of losing mothers, wives and daughters.

Survival rates for cervical cancer top 90 per cent – if caught early. But if missed, it is invariably fatal. So it should be a source of profound shame that millions of women in Britain are delaying, or even missing, smear tests because they can’t get an appointment – putting their lives at risk.

Many clinics offer too few cervical checkups, and it can be almost impossible in some areas to book screenings in evenings or at weekends – a consequence of Labour’s lamentable gPs’ contracts.

Screening has already plummeted to a record low. if women can’t get an appointment for months, they may simply not bother. Health bosses bagged an extra £20billion a year from ministers. tackling the cervical screening crisis should be a priority.