Hansard

I congratulate and thank Monica Lennon for holding this debate on the important issue of screening uptake for cervical cancer. I thank the organisations that provided us with briefings ahead of the debate, including Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust.

Cervical cancer screening rates are important because screening saves lives, preventing eight out of 10 cervical cancers from developing. I hope that today we can collectively send out the message that screening saves lives and that, each year, the lives of hundreds of Scottish women can be saved if they go to their screening.

In Scotland, approximately six women every week are diagnosed with cervical cancer—six women every week. There is the potential to reduce that number if we can increase uptake rates for cervical screening. Uptake of cervical screening is lowest among younger women, as has already been outlined. That is particularly concerning for many of us, as cervical cancer is the most common cancer in women under the age of 35 in Scotland and across the UK.

A survey that was carried out by Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust asked 2,005 women aged between 25 and 35 about why they would delay or not go for a screening test. The survey, as we have heard, found that a lot of it was about embarrassment. Of the young women who delay or do not go for a screening test, 71 per cent felt scared, 75 per cent felt vulnerable, 81 per cent said that they were embarrassed and 67 per cent responded that they felt that they no control over the screening and the test.

The survey was incredibly important in order to find out what would make women delay or not take up the invitation of a test. Twenty-seven per cent said that they were concerned about making a fuss, 18 per cent were afraid of being judged and 18 per cent said that their concerns were too small or silly to go for the screening. Almost half of the women who were surveyed said that they regularly delay or do not take up the invitation of a test. If the uptake of cervical screening is to be improved and the concerns of women that have been outlined are to be addressed, we need to see progress.

This week is a great time to have the debate. Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust has launched its #smearforsmear social media campaign to raise awareness of what a smear test is for and why it is important, and to provide support and advice to women who are going for a test, to make it feel less daunting. As well as providing support and advice, the campaign aims to act as a reminder to women to book their test if they have been meaning to go but have put it off. With busy lives, people often do put off such things, but that is something that we should look to change.

Men also have a role to play. Ali Maxwell, who is the son of Jo Maxwell, after whom the charity is named, has said that men should play a role in understanding the importance of the tests and encouraging our mothers, daughters, sisters, partners and friends to take the test. Too often, we have similar debates in which we encourage women to remind men, but this is an opportunity to show how men can play a role in helping to address some of the fears around smears.

The survey revealed that 72 per cent of women delayed or missed the test because, as has already been mentioned, of the embarrassment of a stranger examining intimate areas and 44 per cent did not know how to talk to a stranger about it. It is therefore important that public information campaigns are able to really tackle the issues. As members have outlined, many people who work in the health professions worry that they might have to see other health professionals. Therefore, it is important to look at how we can reassure people.

Last week, the cross-party group on cancer published our inquiry into the Scottish Government’s cancer strategy and highlighted some progress. We saw progress in relation to public information campaigns through the flower campaign, which I hope that the Government will repeat in future.

We still face significant challenges around cervical cancer, with incidence rates having increased by 19.1 per cent over the past decade. I would like to hear from the minister this evening about what work is being undertaken to develop reminders for women, and to further look at how we can use technology for screening reminders, such as an email or an automated text message, in addition to the letter that women receive from their local health board.

We should all work to address the barriers that are preventing women from accessing screening. Campaigns such as #smearforsmear can make a huge difference in improving uptake rates for cervical screening and reducing the number of women in Scotland and across the UK who are diagnosed with cervical cancer every year.