North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has called on the Cabinet Secretary for Health to provide a Statement on cervical screening.
With this week being Cervical Screening Awareness Week, speaking in the Assembly Chamber yesterday Mr Isherwood highlighted the low uptake of cervical screening in Wales and spoke of the need to encourage more women to get screened.
He said:
“We know that cervical screening prevents up to 75 per cent of cervical cancers from developing, but uptake in Wales is at a 10-year low, and diagnosis levels are worryingly high. You referred rightly to the need to target the areas where the problem is greatest. Across Wales, only 70.4 per cent of cervical screening coverage occurs within three and a half years for 25 to 64-year-olds. The lowest level is at 69.5 per cent in Cardiff and the Vale, then 70.9 in Betsi Cadwaladr, and 73.6, the highest level, in Powys Teaching Health Board. There are still more than a quarter of women between 25 and 64 missing out on this, and it’s not much better over five years either.
“We must surely encourage women to talk to friends, mothers and daughters about the steps they can take to reduce their risk of cervical cancer. And fathers and brothers and uncles and grandfathers, as well as women, to talk to our loved ones, because we can’t afford to see cervical screening attendance fall any further. I hope you will expand on your earlier statement and encourage the Minister to provide a statement accordingly.”
In her response, Leader of the House Jane Hutt AM said local primary care clusters are working with public health teams to consider screening uptake, particularly in the areas where there is the lowest uptake.
Mr Isherwood added: “The statistics show that take up is low everywhere in Wales”.
ENDS