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[bombsh3ll]

https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2025/06/24/at-home-hpv-testing-cervical-screening-programme/

Women in England and Wales will soon be able to access self taken cervical screening on the NHS. This was a recent development and we are still campaigning for this to be made available in Scotland.

You simply have to wait until your smear is overdue and can then receive a swab that you can take yourself at home without the need for speculum passage.

[CLKD]

No way would I want to delve around - how many samples won't be 'enough' for proper testing?  How many women will give up if they have atrophy ..........

[bombsh3ll]

Not that I am advocating for anyone to go untreated with vaginal atrophy, but given this is sadly common it would be much easier for someone with this condition to take a tiny swab themselves than have a speculum examination.

It picks up the HPV virus which is actually easy to detect, certainly no harder than swabbing your nose for COVID.

I have vaginal stenosis as a result of birth injury and this will make cervical screening possible again for women like me, as well as survivors of FGM and sexual trauma.

It isn't replacing traditional screening but will be an option for underserved groups for whom the current offering is unsuitable.

[sheila99]

Traditional screening has been replaced for everyone as they no longer look for cell changes. But if it can be done at home successfully it's easier for everyone so I see it as a good thing. I do wish the NHS would sack it's PC department though.

[bombsh3ll]

You're right Sheila they don't do cytology any more on a routine smear, just test for HPV.

I meant the traditional manner of speculum based sampling by a clinician, which is a barrier for many due to multiple physical and psychological reasons.

[Suziemc]

I meant the traditional manner of speculum based sampling by a clinician, which is a barrier for many due to multiple physical and psychological reasons.

I agree, this is such a huge step forward and will enable many women to be tested who haven't in the past due to medical, psychological and cultural reasons. If it's the same as the self-test in Australia then it's just a vaginal swab (rather than of the cervix) taken in the same way as a covid test, by way of moving the swab around the vagina for 30 seconds.

With the advent of the HPV jab a few years ago and now this step forward in testing, hopefully it won't be too much longer before cervical cancer is all but limited.

Suzie

[common-lime]

This is great news for me - I'm overdue by a year at the mo because I have scar tissue from endometriosis in an awkward place which makes speculums agonising. I have to go to the colposcopy clinic for gas and air for the most basic tests, and their waiting list for non-urgent issues is very lengthy. I think I'm low risk as I've never tested positive for HPV, but it would be brilliant for the DIY option to be properly accessible so it wasn't such as faff every time.

[Konijntje]

I think we get the self-test offered for at least 10 years here (Netherlands), I just got a letter for my next sreening and you can either get a smear at the doctors or ask to be sent the test kit home and you can just mail it to the lab. Very easy and much more convenient.